Josh Rosen apparently did enough during his brief trial with the 49ers to warrant a new deal. The 49ers have re-signed the former first-round pick to a one-year contract, the team announced on Monday.
The 10th-overall pick in the 2018 draft, Rosen spent most of the 2020 season on the Buccaneers‘ practice squad. He was signed by the 49ers just three days before the team’s Week 16 win over the Cardinals — the team that drafted Rosen two years earlier. Rosen spent the remainder of the year on the 49ers’ active roster but did not see any in-game action. He backed up C.J. Beathard, who played well during his only two starts of the 2020 season.
Beathard, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, was one of three quarterbacks who started for the 49ers in 2020. Starter Jimmy Garoppolo made six starts before an ankle injury sidelined him for the second half of the season. Garoppolo went 3-3 as the 49ers’ starter, while Nick Mullens, a four-year veteran who is a restricted free agent, won just two of his eight starts under center. Beathard split his two starts after replacing Mullens, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury during San Francisco’s Week 15 loss to the Cowboys.
Despite the quarterback carousel, the 49ers finished 12th in the NFL in passing in 2020. They were also eighth in the league in red-zone efficiency. Third downs were an issue, however, as the 49ers were 24th in the league in that department. Injuries at quarterback, along with various other positions, largely contributed to the 49ers’ disappointing 6-10 record a year after representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.
While he has yet to realize his potential coming out of the draft, the former UCLA star will be just 24 years old when the 2021 season begins. Rosen was also not particularly set up to have success during the first two seasons of his career. In Arizona, Rosen was thrust into the starting lineup as a rookie, where he played behind one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines. After being traded to Miami in 2019, Rosen again played behind a subpar offensive line that allowed him to get sacked 16 times during his three starts that season. In his first 16 starts, Rosen was sacked 61 times.
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Rosen has thrown at least one touchdown pass in nine of his 16 career starts.
Keeping Rosen adds insurance to a 49ers’ team that is hoping to avoid another injury-marred season in 2021. It also gives Rosen another season to work with Kyle Shanahan, who has had notable success working with several established quarterbacks. Along with his success with Garoppolo, Shanahan reached a Super Bowl with Matt Ryan during his time as the Falcons‘ offensive coordinator. Before that, Shanahan served as Washington’s offensive coordinator when Robert Griffin III won Offensive Rookie of the Year while leading the Football Team to a division title. As Houston’s offensive coordinator in 2009, Shanahan helped Matt Schaub win a passing title en route to his first Pro Bowl selection.
The jury is currently out on how the 49ers will use the No. 12 overall pick in this year’s draft. In his most recent mock draft, CBS Sports NFL draft analyst Ryan Wilson has the 49ers selecting North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Chris Trapasso, however, has San Francisco finding a complementary piece for George Kittle with the selection of Florida tight end Kyle Pitts. Fellow CBS draft analyst Josh Edwards believes that the 49ers will use the No. 12 overall pick to bolster their secondary. He has the 49ers taking former Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II, the second-ranked cornerback in CBS Sports prospect rankings.
