The journey toward Super Bowl LII ended far too prematurely for the Pittsburgh Steelers, sending them into offseason mode before we were ready for it. But we are in it now, and are ready to move on, through the Combine, through free agency, through the draft, into OTAs, and beyond.
We have asked and answered a lot of questions over the years and will continue to do so, and at the moment, there seem to be a ton of questions that need answering. A surprise early exit in the postseason will do that to you though, especially when it happens in the way it did.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring developments all throughout the offseason process, all the way down to Latrobe. Pending free agents, possible veteran roster cuts, contract extensions, pre-draft visits, pro days, all of it will have its place when the time arises.
Question: Isn’t it ridiculous that Joshua Dobbs can’t be in the Steelers’ rookie minicamp?
I know I’ve already written an article about this topic within the past couple of days, but as I read the early reports about Mason Rudolph coming in, I can’t help but to think of the other young quarterback on the roster, Joshua Dobbs, who is in many ways less experienced than several of the players that are actually participating in the Steelers’ rookie minicamp this week.
Like wide receiver Marcus Tucker, for example. He is in his third rookie minicamp of his career. The only differences between Tucker’s status with the team last year and Dobbs’, aside from pay, is the fact that Dobbs did dress for one game, and the fact that he accrued a season, which is good for free agency, but bad for this particular circumstance.
Both Dobbs and Tucker were able to attend positional meetings. They both practiced with the team on the field. They were both there in street clothes for games on Sundays (at least the home games, in the case of practice squad players, if I’m not mistaken).
Yet here we are sitting at the tail end of the three-day rookie minicamp with Rudolph essentially getting a jumpstart on the season over Dobbs. Not that the two are in direct competition, in my opinion. But Dobbs will be fighting for a roster spot, or a place on the practice squad. It’s a small piece of the puzzle, but there’s no reason a player who dressed for a single game and did not play in it should not be in rookie minicamp.
If this time is valuable for players like Tucker, then it would be valuable for players like Dobbs as well. As I argued in the previous article that I alluded to above, all, or at least most players eligible for the practice squad should be eligible for rookie minicamp as well.
