ATLANTA — A week after Josh Rosen signed with the Atlanta Falcons, the former first-round pick ended up making the team’s initial 53-man roster.
Rosen signed with Atlanta last Tuesday, practiced for three days and then played the second half of the team’s 19-10 loss to Cleveland on Sunday. After the game, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said he felt Rosen did well but was not ready to commit to giving the quarterback a longer look.
On Tuesday, the team made the commitment by keeping him as one potential backup to starting QB Matt Ryan, along with undrafted rookie Feleipe Franks. After his performance Sunday, when he completed 9 of 18 passes for 118 yards and Atlanta’s only passing touchdown of the preseason, Rosen said it was “refreshing” to be able to play again.
“I’m just working to get my confidence back,” Rosen said Sunday night. “I’m the kind of football player, I just like making plays. I got to work on just getting more consistent and taking what defenses give me, but just naturally within my game. That’s how I separate myself, I make plays with my arm.
“And in order to do that, I play best when I’m confident and when I walk up to the line of scrimmage and there’s no hesitation and just working on getting that back.”
It’s been a long journey for Rosen. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals with the No. 10 pick in the 2018 draft. After Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks was fired and the team hired Kliff Kingsbury, they drafted quarterback Kyler Murray first overall in the 2019 draft and sent Rosen to Miami. Benched with the Dolphins, he learned behind Ryan Fitzpatrick until he was released last September. He spent the majority of last season on Tampa Bay’s practice squad behind Tom Brady and then signed with San Francisco, where he battled for the No. 3 quarterback role.
Released in August, Rosen signed with Atlanta a week later, giving him his short window of opportunity that, so far, he has taken advantage of. Rosen has played in 20 games, starting 16, and completed 275 of 502 passes for 2,845 yards, 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. Looking back at his journey — where he has been and is now — he’s happy to get another shot.
“It’s a really good opportunity to just play football again,” Rosen said. “That’s what I keep saying.”