There probably aren’t too many backup players around the league who might be beloved enough by a fan base to turn them into temporary supporters of another team when they go on to have success in that uniform. You have to be a pretty special person to have that kind of pull.
Joshua Dobbs is that kind of person. He had Pittsburgh Steelers fans rooting for the Arizona Cardinals earlier this season. Now they are pulling for the Minnesota Vikings. He started for the first half of the Cardinals’ season with Kyler Murray on the Reserve/Injured List. Though they did a lot of losing, he added excitement and a good story to their season.
Traded at the deadline to the Minnesota Vikings after they lost Kirk Cousins, he’s now effectively their starter after coming off the bench last week and delivering an improbable victory, throwing to teammates he’d hardly met yet.
That game didn’t count as a win since he didn’t start, but he got his first win as a Viking—and second win overall—yesterday, 27-19, over the New Orleans Saints. Going 23-for-34 for 268 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown on eight attempts for 44, the former Volunteer continues to be up for anything. And those who’ve gotten to know him, even from a distance, have been here for it.
“I’m so proud of and happy for Josh Dobbs”, former teammate Ben Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast, which was filmed live during the Steelers game yesterday, the same time Dobbs and the Vikings were playing. “Josh is a great, great person, a great human being, a great teammate. He was fun to be around”.
Drafted in the fourth round in 2017, Dobbs served as the third-string quarterback as a rookie behind Landry Jones. Most expected that he would be the odd man out when a year later the team drafted Mason Rudolph in the third round, but instead he won the backup job and the team released Jones.
That was as high as his ceiling would reach in Pittsburgh, however, losing the backup job to Rudolph in 2019. The Steelers then traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars after the latter lost starting QB Nick Foles in the opener, adding Devlin “Duck” Hodges as their third quarterback.
Dobbs never played for them and even wound up back in Pittsburgh in 2020, even getting a handful of snaps, but he spent the 2021 season on the Reserve/Injured List. They opted not to re-sign him in 2022 amid the changeover at quarterback with Roethlisberger retiring and he wound up with the Cleveland Browns—then the Detroit Lions—and then the Tennessee Titans for whom he started on short notice.
His most extensive playing time of his career up to that point was quite a mixed bag but always interesting. Yet the more he has played this year, the more comfortable, more assured he has come, and now he is playing with arguably the best offense he’s been around with the opportunity to be on the field in Minnesota. With All-Pro WR Justin Jefferson soon to return. And it’s no surprise his growth never stopped for Roethlisberger.
“He always wanted to learn. If there was ever a time that I wanted to give him some advice or talk to him, he was the type [who would say], ‘Give me everything you want’”, he said of Dobbs. “We’ve had guys, and we have guys on this team that aren’t that way”.
He didn’t name names, of course. He said that he has “always been the type that, I’ll give you what you want but I don’t want to step on your toes, I don’t want to overwhelm you, I won’t do it”, noting that Hodges is another player who was always receptive to what he could offer.
“I root for Josh because he’s such a good person. He’s always been kind to my family, my kids love him, we love rooting for him. I’m so happy”, he added. “Forget how smart he is—yes, he’s incredibly smart. But listen. Book smarts only get you so far. You’ve got to understand the game and he understands the game”.
In two games with the Vikings now, Dobbs is 43-for-64 passing for 346 yards and three touchdown passes. To that he adds 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns with his legs, which have always been an integral attribute of his game.
Could he possibly have finally found a home in the NFL after more than half a decade? How many times over the course of that period did most assume that his career was coming to an end? All of a sudden all those who believed in his abilities all along are feeling rather vindicated today. Granted, he has continually gotten better all along, particularly with his baseline accuracy, but he is simply playing impressive, winning football right now, and who could possibly not be happy for him? This is what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin would call football justice.
