but I mostly just want to be along for the ride until it’s time to roll some dice to hit something and let the other players figure out what to do otherwise
I’d say all RPGs, even 5e, require players to actively engage with the game, he just wants other people to do the active engaging. Nobody wants to play with people like this, because either you want to engage and want to play with other engaged people, or you don’t want to engage and want to play with engaged people you can piggyback off.
A party of players like him wouldn’t get anything done, even in 5e, because they don’t actually want to be playing a ttrpg; they want to hang out with their friends and play something more like Ludo or Snakes And Ladders - roll some dice, move some pieces, go back to the conversation until your turn comes up again. HeroQuest if they really need the fantasy aspects.