Josh Rosen’s last landing site will be his home next year.
San Francisco signed Rosen on a one-year contract, the team announced on Monday.
The team also hired running back Austin Walter, who announced with the same press release.
Rosen was part of the Buccaneers’ training squad when San Francisco found itself needing depth in the quarterback at the end of the season. The 49ers released Rosen from the Buccaneers’ training team on December 23, and he spent the rest of the 2020 season in San Francisco.
General manager John Lynch apparently sees enough in choosing the former No. 10 Arizona Cardinals overall, keeping him for another year as part of a team that needs depth in position more often than most clubs due to Jimmy Garoppolo’s multiple injuries. Rosen was chosen for the first round due to the same quarterback potential that made him a five-star recruit from St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, in 2015. He was thrown into a difficult situation in Arizona as a rookie, forced to step onto the pitch in the closing moments of a regular season game to make his unexpected debut, and he played behind a poor offensive line that rarely gave him the time to launch.
Most importantly, Rosen did not receive the organizational stability or security necessary for optimal development, instead he was asked to find out while under the command of former Cardinals coach Steve Wilks, before being unceremoniously dismissed by Arizona in a switch to Miami. With little pressure on him to produce in San Francisco, Rosen can finally be in an ideal situation to learn the professional game under the command of offensive wizard Kyle Shanahan.
He will have at least another year to absorb as much as possible with the 49ers.