Ex-UCLA coach Jim Mora made waves when he said a week ago the Cleveland Browns should take USC product Sam Darnold over his former quarterback, Josh Rosen.
Speaking on NFL Network, Mora cited "fit" to explain why he believed Darnold would play better in Cleveland than Rosen. Most of the football world, however, couldn't get past the headline of Mora trumpeting a former rival over one of his own players.
The former coach continued to attempt to clarify his comment, reiterating to The MMQB's Peter King that his Darnold-over-Rosen comment was strictly about fit.
"Josh, I think, without a doubt, is the number one quarterback in the draft," Mora told King. "He's a franchise-changer. He's got the ability to have an immediate impact. His arm talent, intelligence, and his ability to see the game and diagnose the game is rare. He'd come to the sidelines after a play and it was uncanny -- he could right away say exactly why he made every decision."
Mora then suggested a shaky red flag as the reasoning the Darnold is a better fit in Cleveland than Rosen.
"[Rosen] needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn't get bored," Mora said of his ex-QB. "He's a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they're good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he's a really good kid."
Perhaps, as it's been suggested elsewhere, Rosen doesn't want to play in Cleveland and Mora is attempting to do his former quarterback a roundabout favor. If so, Mora is going about it strangely.
Blaming "millennials" for all of society's ills is about as trendy as avocado toast. It also probably plays well in the offices of some crusty old "football men" whose lens of the outside world is warped by dusty images of the "good ol' days." It's also funny that Rosen gets a millennial tag, while Darnold -- the younger of the two -- is given a pass.
Fair or not, Rosen will be tasked with combating the notion that he's not 100 percent all-in on football -- as if players like Tom Brady, Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers have zero interests outside pigskin games. Unfortunately, it's his former coach inciting many of those questions.
Rosen, for his part, had this to say on Twitter:
