Somehow this former Jets WR just landed another NFL opportunity

Against all odds, former New York Jets wide receiver Robbie Chosen is back in the NFL. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the 32-year-old wideout signed with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon, adding another chapter to a career that seemed to be on its last legs.

Chosen, formerly known as Robbie (or Robby) Anderson, hasn’t suited up for Gang Green since 2019, but has continued to find opportunities as a situational deep threat across the league.

The New Jersey-born receiver tallied 500+ receiving yards in all four of his seasons in New York, headlined by a 941-yard, seven-touchdown campaign in 2017, which solidified his status as a legitimate NFL playmaker.

The Temple product left the Jets in the 2020 offseason to reunite with his college coach, Matt Rhule, in Carolina, where he delivered a career year.

In his inaugural season as a Panther, Chosen notched career-highs in both receptions (95) and receiving yards (1,096) before suffering a statistical drop-off in 2021. After 2021, he never surpassed 300 receiving yards again, so the undrafted free agent bounced around the NFL.

A sideline altercation with now-Jets defensive coordinator Steve Wilks saw Chosen get traded from Carolina to Arizona in 2022 before he spent the last two seasons back in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins.

In Miami, he was at the bottom of a receiver depth chart that included Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, so he recorded just five receptions with the Dolphins. To make matters worse, he hauled in just one reception for five yards in 2024.

His most notable moment in recent memory came in 2023 during Miami’s 70-20 blowout of the Denver Broncos, where he caught a 68-yard touchdown from another former Jet-turned-Dolphin in Mike White.

But Chosen never held ill will toward Jets fans, even expressing a desire for a reunion with the team that he started out with earlier in the offseason. Maybe it was just because he was pursuing an NFL comeback, but some fans liked the idea of bringing back the veteran to bolster a thin WR room.

Ex-Jets WR Robbie Chosen will fight for a roster spot with the 49ers

Now with the 49ers, Chosen joins one of the league’s most prolific groups of skill players, with Brock Purdy’s weapons arsenal still spearheaded by Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk.

But Aiyuk is still rehabbing his torn ACL suffered in Week 7 of 2024. He was placed on the PUP list to recover, leaving his timetable for return uncertain. Add to that the fact that Deebo Samuel is now in Washington and Jauan Jennings is still sidelined with a calf injury of his own, San Francisco has a need for receiver depth behind 2024 first-rounder Ricky Pearsall.

For Chosen, it’s his opportunity to prove he still has something in the tank in order to carve out a spot on the 49ers’ Week 1 roster, and maybe even earn a meaningful role in Kyle Shanahan’s system.

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