Josh Rosen Released Again, Looks Like an All-Time Bust

Josh Rosen was the 10th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, and immediately claimed "there were nine mistakes made" ahead of him. Three years later, Rosen could potentially be headed to his fifth team.

The San Francisco 49ers waived Rosen on Tuesday after just one preseason game. On Saturday against the Chiefs, Rosen played much of the second half. He completed 10 of 15 passes for 93 yards and had an interception. It was a really rough performance after an uneven training camp. In the end, he couldn't beat out veteran backup Nate Sudfeld for the third spot on the depth chart behind Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance.

Rosen talked a big game coming out of UCLA but has yet to do anything with his chances in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals drafted him to be their franchise quarterback in 2018 and promptly traded him to Miami for two draft picks after a year. With the Dolphins, Rosen failed to beat out Ryan Fitzpatrick as team's starting quarterback in 2019, and was waived in September of 2020 after they couldn't find a trade partner. He spent the bulk of the 2020 season on Tampa Bay's practice squad, before being signed by the 49ers in December. He got a one-year contract extension in February of this year to compete for a backup spot, but failed pretty quickly.

The Cardinals gave Rosen action in 14 games during the 2018 season and he failed to show anything. He completed 55.2 percent of his passes for 2,278 yards, with 11 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and seven fumbles. He finished with a quarterback rating of 66.7, a Total QBR of 24.1 and averaged a woeful 5.8 yards per attempt. It's no shock Arizona gave up on him when the franchise had a chance to draft Kyler Murray at the top of the 2019 draft.

In Miami, Rosen only saw action in six games. He completed 53.2 percent of his passes for 567 yards, with one touchdown and five interceptions. His QB rating was 52.0, his Total QBR was 19.7 and he averaged a disastrous 5.2 yards per attempt. Again, it's not surprising the Dolphins gave up on him.

Rosen simply isn't an NFL quarterback. He showed some flashes of potential in college at UCLA, but never lived up to his billing as the top quarterback recruit in the nation. Recruiting classmates like Murray, Sam Darnold and Joe Burrow all wound up surpassing him.

Will Rosen get another chance? Maybe. He's only 24 and does have some raw ability. But he hasn't shown a lick of promise in four NFL opportunities. There's no reason to believe he'll suddenly turn things around.