Report: Falcons signing QB Josh Rosen

With news that backup quarterback A.J. McCarron would miss the rest of the 2021 NFL season due to a torn ACL he suffered on Saturday against the Miami Dolphins, the Atlanta Falcons were faced with no choice but to add another quarterback to the roster. Ahead of Sunday’s preseason finale with the Cleveland Browns it was reported that the team would be working out quarterbacks on Monday with the goal of signing one to compete with undrafted rookie Feleipe Franks.

The Falcons have reportedly found their guy, as the team is expected to sign former first round pick Josh Rosen. After being the 10th overall selection by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2018 NFL Draft, Rosen has been a bit of a journeyman quarterback in recent years, playing for four different teams in his short career. He was recently released by the 49ers after spending time there late last season and into this summer, but the Falcons were interested enough in him to give him this shot over other options like Blake Bortles and Robert Griffin on the open market.

Obviously, Rosen won’t have a lot of time to make his case for a more permanent roster spot, as the Falcons only have a handful of practices left before the preseason finale against Cleveland. Rosen will look to show more than he did in San Francisco, where he told reporters he was struggling to get much of a look with Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance competing for the starting job, and to put what has been a lackluster pro career to this point behind him.

Expect Rosen to get significant time in the preseason finale against the Browns—we’ll probably only see Matt Ryan for a short time before he and Franks duke it out—and for the Falcons to ultimately choose between Rosen and Franks for the backup job when they cut down to 53 players. Whether Atlanta chooses Rosen and whether he sticks around after other teams make cuts is anyone’s guess right now, but give him a warm welcome and we’ll see what happens next.