1:33pm: The Vikings are preparing Hall for the Week 9 start, Kevin O’Connell said (via the Associated Press’ Rob Maaddi). Dobbs suiting up is possible, per O’Connell. Dobbs has a history of being ready on short notice, having started barely a week after the Titans signed him off the Lions’ practice squad.
12:38pm: For the second time this year, Josh Dobbs will be traded. A day after Jonathan Gannon indicated it will be Kyler Murray or Clayton Tune starting for the Cardinals in Week 9, the team will unload Dobbs.
The Vikings, who lost Kirk Cousins for the season in Week 8, will bring in the veteran backup/spot starter, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report. The Cardinals had acquired Dobbs, 28, from the Browns in late August; he will now join a QB room featuring two injured players. Cousins’ Week 1 backup, Nick Mullens, is also on IR. This comes two days after Gannon said Dobbs would start against the Browns, pointing to the Week 9 benching being driven by these trade talks.
Arizona will send Dobbs and a seventh-round pick to Minnesota for a sixth-rounder, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Conditions are included that can turn the seventh-round pick the Vikings are receiving into a sixth, per Schefter. This will amount to a flier for the Vikings, who have not previously needed to deal with an injury absence in their six seasons with Cousins.
While this might not satisfy Vikings fans eager for a higher-profile name, Dobbs will come to the Twin Cities with eight 2023 starts under his belt. After being expected to trot out Colt McCoy while Murray finished his recovery from a December 2022 ACL tear, the Cardinals instead plugged in Dobbs. The team delivered some surprisingly competitive efforts, but it has fallen to 1-7. Tune is expected to start for Arizona in Week 9, with Murray moving close to a return.
On the season, Dobbs has completed 62.8% of his passes (at just 5.9 yards per attempt) and has thrown eight touchdown passes compared to five interceptions. Not exactly equipped with a high-end skill-position corps, Dobbs also came to the desert barely two weeks before the season. The Browns had planned to use Dobbs as their backup, but they viewed fifth-round rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson has having made enough progress. Cleveland quickly benched Thompson-Robinson for practice squad pickup P.J. Walker, who has become Deshaun Watson‘s top backup.
The Vikings turned to fifth-round draftee Jaren Hall as Cousins’ emergency replacement, but they now have some options. The team has used Sean Mannion as Cousins’ backup in multiple seasons; Mannion is back on the Vikes’ practice squad. Hall and Mannion had loomed as the team’s top healthy options, but Mullens is expected to come off IR at some point. A back injury moved Mullens to IR earlier this month. Mullens can return after one more missed game.
For his career, Dobbs has made 10 starts. His teams are 1-9 in those games. Granted, Dobbs has not been thrust into good situations when asked to start. His initial two starts came for an injury-riddled Titans team last season, and while the former Steelers draftee showed better form compared to Malik Willis last season, Tennessee still lost both his starts. The noted rocket scientist engineered an upset win over the Cowboys earlier this season, but the Cardinals have lost their past five games. Murray is also believed to be fully healthy and ready to return. With Tune in place as a possible long-term backup, the Cards did not have a clear role for Dobbs.
Loosely connected to Jacoby Brissett — whom Dobbs backed up during his 2022 Cleveland stopover — the Vikings are not necessarily ruled out from another starter option. Carson Wentz remains available, and Matt Ryan contacted the Jets after Aaron Rodgers‘ injury. Tom Brady has unretiring experience, though the QB icon was viewed as a nonstarter for the Jets in September. But the Dobbs move does almost definitely close the book on any other QB additions via trade for the 4-4 Vikings.
I’d rather have Dobbs then Kenny Pickett tbh
Certainly over Trubisky…
I wanted him in PIT as the #2 or 3 this year. Missed opportunity.
Pickett’s just plain awful, and it’s sad because it is still better than Trubisky
I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s playing (we’ve literally seen him play better), but it is very concerning. Missing way too many basic throws.
He’s often been better at the hard things than the difficult things, which is incredibly frustrating.
Trubisky is who he is. He’s unnecessary with Rudolph back. Should have traded or cut him and grabbed Dobbs or a young guy to develop.
He hasn’t played that much better. 20 games into his career and he’s had ONE 2 TD game (vs the lowly Raiders) and ONE 300 yard game (a 38-3 blowout). He’s not good. Misses wide open passes, hold the ball too long the few instances he does have time, and often looks lost in the pocket. Trubisky is useless, but Pickett is only marginally better on his best of days.
Just one time we should’ve seen out of Pickett what Levis did or he should have a shootout game like Howell. He’s incapable of that. Canada can be blamed. Tomlin can be blamed. But Pickett himself isn’t doing anything to help Pickett’s case.
Last year it was pretty clear after the MIA game they put on some pretty beefy training wheels to mitigate the INTs. I didn’t like the turnovers his first few starts, but some were flukey and I liked his approach & moxy. I thought he could tighten some things up decision-making-wise and keep improving. But they panicked and played conservative and (my opinion) delayed his development by making him a game-manager.
This year…I can’t explain. He’s just off. Missing simple passes. The pocket presence issues are nothing new, and the O-Line obviously isn’t very good, but he has regressed this year in my eyes.
Pure speculation, but I don’t think he and Canada like eachother at all. I can’t see either succeeding with the other.
The Commanders are having a fire sale, why not throw a pick at the Commanders for Jacoby Brissett?
The Commanders are asking a package deal with QB Jacoby Brissett and DE Chase Young for a 2nd….
Not any more. Young just went to SF.
I’d rather have Josh Johnson.
Did the lions throw in a draft pick to make this happen?
ikr
So basically Arizona dropped from an early 5th to a mid 6th and moved back from an early 7th to mid-to-late 7th to have Dobbs for 8 games.
So basically it’s time for fans in Minnesota to download the schedule for the Wild or Timberwolves if they haven’t done it already.
Minnesota’s in the NFC playoff places as it stands with half the season to go, including both games vs. Detroit. And you want to tank the season?
Josh Dobbs???
WHY?
Exactly; why bother?
I’d rather have Donna than Cousins
What?
Whew, close1, but Vikings fans SB hopes n dreams R still alive n breathing … Joshua Dobbs 2the rescue !!!
Rocket scientist who needs a day or two to learn your playbook for hire.
It says a lot that no one with an injured QB has called Carson Wentz or Nick Foles.
Just watching Dobbs here in Phoenix, I think he’s better than the Cardinal’s record would suggest. Best of luck to him…gotta think Minnesota is a superior organization.