Josh Rosen signs with Minnesota Vikings practice squad

The Minnesota Vikings signed former first round pick and UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen to the practice squad, according to a team release Tuesday. Rosen was previously on the Cleveland Browns practice squad earlier this season, but released Oct. 10. It remains to be seen if he’ll be added to the active roster at any point for the Vikings, who already clinched the NFC North.

He joins a quarterback room led by Kirk Cousins, who’s having a solid year under first-year head coach Kevin O’Connell. Cousins has 3,818 yards, 24 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 65.3% completion percentage.

Rosen was the No. 10 overall pick back in 2018 by the Arizona Cardinals following a solid career at UCLA. However, Rosen struggled as a rookie, going 3-10 as a starter as he threw for 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and a 55.2% completion percentage.

Following that year, the Cardinals drafted Kyler Murray with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and promptly traded Rosen to the Miami Dolphins. Rosen started three games, going 0-3 for Miami in his second year.

The rocky career continued for Rosen, who could not beat out Tua Tagovailoa or Ryan Fitzpatrick on the depth chart in 2020, causing the Dolphins to waive Rosen after failing to find a trade partner.

Initially, Rosen found his way to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad in 2020, Tom Brady’s first year with the team. But, he was eventually signed to the San Francisco 49ers active roster but did not play that season.

After being waived, Rosen signed with the Atlanta Falcons in August of 2021 as a backup and appeared in four games, completing just two-of-11 passes for 19 yards and two interceptions. 

Rosen’s signing to the Vikings practice squad makes it the sixth team of his career.

Rosen was the Pac-12 offensive freshman of the year in 2015, when he finished his first year with UCLA with 3,670 yards, 23 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 60% completion percentage. He finished his college career with 9,341 yards, 59 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and a 60.9% completion percentage.

As a member of the Class of 2015, Rosen was a five-star prospect out of Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, according to the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 5 overall prospect in the state, the No. 2 quarterback in the class and the No. 21 overall prospect in the class.

With three games left, the Vikings (11-3) take on the New York Giants (8-5-1), Green Bay Packers (6-8) and Chicago Bears (3-11) to conclude the regular season.