Josh Rosen still thinks Dolphins eventually his team

[The Dolphin]

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Josh Rosen was disappointed, but unbowed.

Despite losing the competition for the Dolphins’ starting quarterback job to Ryan Fitzpatrick, Rosen said he was proud of the strides he made, and sounded confident after he got the news from coach Brian Flores.

“When he told me Fitz was going to get the job he told me I made a lot of good progress,” Rosen said, via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post. “And I think it’s only time that this team is mine.”

Starting a recent first-rounder who has room to develop might make more sense for a rebuilding team than a journeyman like Fitzpatrick, but the elder quarterback played better in the preseason (by a narrow margin, but better). And Rosen was also able to admit human emotion while still being a good teammate.

Asked how he felt about the decision, Rosen replied: “Not great. But I mean at least for me the competition never stops. We’re teammates. So I’m rooting for him as hard as anyone because a rising tide raises all ships.”

Flores simply said Fitzpatrick was the starter, and didn’t say it was a week-to-week assignment. He also acknowledged that planning for the future is important there.

“His development is something that we as an organization, it’s a top priority,” Flores said of Rosen. “I think sitting at times helps you develop. Hopefully that will be the case here. . . .

“I think he’s improved greatly over the course of training camp. This is a young kid who works extremely hard, it’s important to him, he’s talented. But playing quarterback in this league takes some time. He’s in a new offense. I think he’ll get there. . . . When? I don’t know. A lot of that’s up to him. He knows that.”

That door is clearly open, and it seems inevitable given Fitzpatrick’s career path (and the Dolphins’ expected level of success this year) that Rosen will eventually end up starting.