Former 1st-round QB Rosen gets signed to practice squad
TAMPA — The Bucs continued to add to their inventory of players, signing quarterback Josh Rosen to the team’s practice squad Sunday.
Because he is coming from another team, Rosen has to complete COVID-19 protocols before the deal becomes official. There is one open spot on the practice squad roster, presumably for him.
The Bucs will be the third organization in as many years for Rosen. The Cardinals took him 10th overall out of UCLA in 2018, then traded him to the Dolphins before last season. Miami cut Rosen on Saturday, opting to go without a third quarterback on their active roster, then he cleared waivers on Sunday, becoming a free agent.
The NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo first reported the move on Twitter.
Rosen, just 23, will have something he didn’t have in his previous stops: the opportunity to learn under six-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady.
While everything the Bucs have done in recent weeks focuses on 2020, this move makes sense for the team’s future because they don’t currently have a quarterback-in-waiting for when Brady’s contract ends following the 2021 season.
Rosen had the opportunity to be on the active ros
ter with another team, according to the NFL Network, but decided Tampa Bay would be the best fit.
With the Bucs, Rosen not only will get to work with Brady, but have an offensive-minded head coach in Bruce Arians and be reunited with Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who coached Rosen as a rookie in Arizona in 2018.
A spot on the practice squad also allows Rosen some maneuverability to join another team. While teams can now designate four practice-squad players to protect each week, players can sign with other teams after Sunday’s games until 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Because of relaxed practice-squad eligibility rules, teams can use up to six spots without any service-time restrictions.
Reports out of South
Florida were that Rosen was having a strong training camp, though without preseason games, that progress couldn’t be evaluated in a live-action setting. Last season he played just six games for the Dolphins, completed 53.2 percent of his passes and had just one touchdown pass and five interceptions as former Buccaneer Ryan Fitzpatrick held down the starting role most of the season.
Still, some think that Rosen never truly has had the opportunity to develop and succeed. This is a fact: he has never played for a winner. The Cardinals were 3-13 his rookie season and the Dolphins were 5-11. If the Bucs meet the lofty expectations placed on them by the addition of Brady, Rosen will be in a winning environment for the first time in his career.