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You are reading that correctly. Josh Rosen, the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, who has had extraordinarily little success in his young NFL career, is going to be a San Francisco 49er. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the 49ers will sign him off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad and he’ll go directly to the active roster.
49ers are signing QB Josh Rosen off the Buccaneers practice squad on to SF’s active roster, per @FieldYates and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 22, 2020
After the Arizona Cardinals drafted him, they selected Kyler Murray in 2019 with the first overall pick and Rosen was traded in his second year to the Miami Dolphins for a 2019 second- and 2020 fifth-round pick.
This offseason, the Dolphins drafted Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth overall pick and again, Rosen was on the outside looking in. Or, rather, the outside looking out. The Dolphins waived him this offseason, and he was claimed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As a starter in Arizona in 2018, Rosen went 3-10, with 2,278 yards, with 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. In his three starts in 2019 with the Dolphins, he went 0-3 with 567 yards, 0 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Two of those wins in 2018, though, came against the 49ers. The quarterback for the 49ers in those two games? C.J. Beathard.
The 49ers became desperate at the quarterback position on Tuesday after Nick Mullens suffered a season-ending elbow injury which may require Tommy John surgery. This came after practice squad quarterback Josh Johnson was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list earlier in the day. While Jimmy Garoppolo’s practice return window was opened, head coach Kyle Shanahan said he would not play this week.
That left Beathard as the only option.
This week, the NFL changed rules regarding COVID-19 protocols. Previously, any player signing with a new team had to undergo six days of testing and could not play for a team the same week they signed, but this week, that rule was amended for players already in the testing protocol. That means practice squad players can be signed and join teams immediately.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the 49ers and Rosen apparently had mutual interest, but the numbers didn’t work to sign him to the practice squad earlier.
The #49ers were one of the places Rosen eyed after leaving the #Dolphins. No room then. Different story now. https://t.co/jxv98Rslwn
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 22, 2020