Does Josh Rosen have what it takes to turn his NFL career around with the 49ers?
Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Kurt Warner isn’t sure, as he explained to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch his concerns about whether the former No. 10 overall pick can recapture his lofty potential in the 49ers’ offense.
“To me, there are a lot of questions based on what I’ve seen and the fact that he continues to bounce around,” Warner, now an NFL Network analyst, told Branch. “A guy that continues to bounce around, most times you say ‘OK, enough coaches have seen him and this is probably going to be just what he is.’ “
Rosen now is with his fourth NFL organization, as the 49ers picked the UCLA product up in December off of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad. Rosen was drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals, and also spent time with the Miami Dolphins.
Accuracy seems to be the primary issue for Rosen, as he has just a 54.8 completion percentage for his NFL career. He wasn’t dramatically better during his three seasons at UCLA, finishing his time with the Bruins completing just 60.9 percent of his passes.
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Warner told Branch he sees the biggest concern with Rosen being his trouble with quickly processing information on the field, which is an imperative quality for an NFL QB.
“That’s always a concern to me, Warner told Branch. “You talk about accuracy and very seldom do you see a guy that’s not very accurate in college become really accurate in the NFL … And you don’t see a lot of guys that just get better and better at processing information. Either you understand that, and you can see it and your eyes go to the right place or they don’t.”
Rosen certainly won’t be competing with Jimmy Garoppolo or whoever the 49ers elect to bring into training camp next season for the starting job, but as we saw in 2020, a lack of depth at that position can doom a team with talent across the rest of the roster.
A full offseason of learning Shanahan’s playbook might cure some of Rosen’s career struggles, but he likely will be joined by at least one additional QB alongside Garoppolo when 49ers camp opens up before the 2021 season.
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