49ers taking worthwhile risk bringing in Josh Rosen

49ers taking a worthwhile risk bringing in Josh Rosen.

Kyle Shanahan has long been considered one of the top offensive minds in the NFL. His system has helped a number of offensive players to their best seasons as pros, and the San Francisco 49ers are obviously hoping that can be the case with Josh Rosen.

After spending all season up to this point learning under Tom Brady, Bruce Arians, and Byron Leftwich with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rosen is being poached by Shanahan’s 49ers, per ESPN.

Anytime teams make moves at the quarterback position, it’s worth doing a little looking into. When the 10th overall pick in the NFL Draft just two years ago is brought on board his fourth NFL team, it’s worth talking about at length.

Josh Rosen was a top-flight prospect coming out of high school and then again when he was coming out of UCLA in 2018. There was significant debate leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft if Rosen was a better prospect than the likes of Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, or Lamar Jackson.

The Cardinals felt when Rosen was on the board at pick number 10, he had fallen plenty. They traded up to get him, and he predictably struggled on a bad team with a coach on the way out in his rookie season.

He was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2019, but couldn’t beat Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job. The Dolphins clearly had one eye on the 2020 NFL Draft, and that was proven with their selection atop the 2020 draft of Tua Tagovailoa.

Rosen was let go before the 2020 season, and wound up signing onto the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad where he’s been oft-protected in 2020.

Jimmy Garoppolo and Nick Mullens are battling injuries, so strictly from a ‘we need bodies’ standpoint, this move makes sense, but acquiring Rosen and prying him away from the Bucs feels like more than just bringing in a body.

The 49ers have plenty of incentive to see what Rosen’s got and get an evaluation on him. Not that he’s going to come out and start the final two games of the season, but the Niners could keep Rosen for next season as well and get a good look at him in OTAs, training camp, and preseason play.

Rosen didn’t get the benefit of playing in the preseason this offseason, so we didn’t get the chance to see really where he’s at. The Dolphins were obviously comfortable letting him go, but it’s also notable that the Bucs kept him around all year.

Kyle Shanahan’s offense has not meant instant success for every single QB who takes snaps in it. Other quarterbacks have still struggled despite playing in this successful offensive scheme, but the marriage of coach and QB between Shanahan and Rosen has to give those who were really high on Rosen coming out of UCLA a significant bit of hope.

At the very least, it will be fun to see what comes of this. Rosen has talent, he is still young, and the Shanahan offense could be a nice fit for him especially with all of the playmakers the 49ers have.