The Cardinals have one of the deepest quarterback rooms in the NFL, boasting two veterans with over 100 starts between them in Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon, as well as highly promising rookie Josh Rosen. Bradford was brought in to be the starter after Carson Palmer retired this offseason, but after trading up to snag Rosen with the tenth pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, there will be pressure for the former UCLA signal caller to see significant playing time earlier in his career. Head coach Steve Wilks is standing firm on Bradford starting atop the depth chart, but left the door open for Rosen to earn that spot at any point in time.
"We're pushing everybody to start," Wilks told NFL Network's Omar Ruiz . "I've stated this several times: Sam Bradford is our starter. We gotta go out there with 11 guys and Sam's going to be the first guy out there. But everybody's fighting for a position, so I'm not going to hold [Rosen] back at all.
"I want guys competing, I want guys fighting for a starting job. Whoever ends up winning the position, that's who's going to end up playing."
It's customary for the coaching staff to back the veteran in these kind of situations, but the overwhelming trend in the league over the past decade or so has been one of rookie QB's getting starts.
20 of the 27 quarterbacks drafted in the first round in the last ten years have started at least eight games in their rookie seasons.
Bradford has proven over the past few seasons that he can be a high level franchise QB when healthy, but his injury prone body simply hasn't allowed him to play for long stretches and reach his full potential.
Even if he keeps Rosen off the field with solid play, it would almost be a surprise to see him make it through the 2018 season without breaking down at some point.
That clearly increases the chances of seeing Rosen under center as a starter in 2018, though an ideal situation in Arizona would probably be seeing their veteran remaining healthy and leading them to a playoff berth whilst their first round pick sits and learns on the bench in year one.
Bradford certainly looks set to start the year as the QB1. How long he remains in that role this season will likely have more to do with his health than Rosen's development as a pro.