Backup QB? Josh Rosen Has Blunt Answer

Former first-round pick fighting to stay in the league as backup in Atlanta.

Quarterback Josh Rosen signed with the Atlanta Falcons one week before roster cut-down day, and he was candid about his chances of earning the backup quarterback role behind Matt Ryan.

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"It's not not up to me," Rosen said bluntly.

Rosen said there was no secret sauce to his past week with Atlanta, just hard work.

"Show up early, stay late, study really hard, grip it and rip it, and hope for the best," Rosen said with a smile. "There's really no other way to do it."

"I mean I've stumbled enough in my career at this point, really, it's just sort of full gas, like go 100%. I'm in the facility this last week, saw ups and down, I don't have a whole lot of more chances like that, so I'm just going to just put my head down and keep swinging."

Like most players with the talent to get taken in the top 10 of the NFL Draft, football success is almost a given. Rosen is famously struggled to stick in the league, but believes the adversity he's faced has made him a better person and a better quarterback.

"I've been cut twice now," said Rosen. "Once you get cut you're just like 'dang,' and you sort of go through the worst case scenario. You just have to use everything I've been taught through my career, meditate a lot, a lot of the sports psychology, everything you do through your whole career to stay mentally strong.

"Snap out of it and remind yourself a couple hours later, I know I'm talented. I know I can play. I just need the right opportunity and right situation, and so the right mindset."

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Having been cut twice has given Rosen the perspective that he needs to take advantage of an opportunity with the Falcons.

"I feel like I'm sort of more capable right now at seizing an opportunity just because I feel like I've grown as an individual a lot since my rookie year," he said. "I just feel like I've matured as an adult, as a human. The way my career has gone I feel like as a human I'm in a better place than I've been in a while, and it's a good feeling going out there and having fun and playing football.

"I missed it."

Rosen has earned reputation of being aloof, and while his answer on whether he's done enough to make the team was a bit abrupt, it was also true and honest.

The decision isn't up to him. It's up to head coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot. Rosen has several things in his favor.

First, it was obvious right away that he's a better option right now than undrafted free agent Feleipe Franks. Franks is an exciting talent, but he's not ready for NFL football. Rosen looked poised in the pocket and showed considerably more arm talent than we had previously seen from A.J. McCarron and Franks this offseason.

Next, Rosen has the type of intellectual personality that will mesh well with incumbent quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan is a football professor in his 14th season with the Falcons. Rosen is the son of an orthopedic surgeon and former journalist.

Finally, Rosen is cheap. Much has been made of Rosen being the No. 10 overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. His rookie contract was four-years and $17.6 million, guaranteed. The Falcons signed him to a one-year deal worth $850,000.

What Rosen has going against him is the fact that he's not just competing against Franks for the backup position. When NFL teams across the league make their final roster cuts tomorrow, the Falcons will have dozens of new quarterbacks to evaluate and potentially sign.

Like Rosen said, it's not up to him, but he's the one on the Falcons roster right now, and he did as well as anyone could have hoped over the course of the last week to make the team.

A humbled Josh Rosen could be a steal for the Atlanta Falcons.