FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Josh Rosen, who signed Tuesday, will play against the Browns in the final exhibition game at 8 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“The plan for Josh is to give him a fair shot this weekend,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said Wednesday. “We have to get him ready to play. He’s going to play Sunday night. How long he’s going to play will be determined on Saturday, but you’re going to see him out there.”
Rosen, who was the 10th player taken in the 2018 NFL draft by Arizona, has bounced around the league. He’s with his fifth team.
The Falcons needed help at the position after AJ McCarron suffered a torn ACL in his right knee against Miami on Saturday. Rosen most recently was released by the 49ers. He’s also spent time with the Dolphins and Buccaneers.
In his first practice with the Falcons he worked behind Matt Ryan and Feleipe Franks. During one stretch in the seven-on-seven drills, he completed a nice deep ball to wide receiver Frank Darby and tossed a quick checkdown to running back Caleb Huntley, while he was on the move.
“That’s the only fair thing to do,” Smith said about playing Rosen. “We signed him. We have to figure out this backup quarterback spot. So, you’ll see him play at some point Sunday night.”
Smith wouldn’t say if the Falcons are committed to Rosen past Sunday’s game.
“We’ll just see how it goes,” Smith said. “The way we kind of look at the roster is that it’s always fluid. We’ll continue to look to improve it any way possible at every position. We’re excited that he’s here, and he’ll be given every opportunity, like everybody else on the roster.”
The Falcons must cut to 53 players by 4 p.m. Tuesday and have said they’ll monitor the waiver wire. After finishing 4-12 last season, they have the fourth spot in the waiver pecking order and could snap up several players.
Smith didn’t have a full evaluation of Rosen’s first practice.
“It was Day 1,” Smith said. “I’m not a real hot-take guy. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him so far. We’ll go in there, and we’ll add some more plays for him tomorrow and see how he handles it.”
Ryan said, “I thought he did good.”
Davis out: Running back Mike Davis was not at practice Wednesday. Cordarelle Patterson and Qadree Ollison took snaps with the first-team offense.
Smith said Davis was tending to a personal matter.
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