When Josh Dobbs was going through his draft evaluation period, the running joke was that he would be the first quarterback to add extra questions to the Wonderlic. Dobbs’ intellect has been a key aspect of his narrative since he enrolled at Tennessee as a 4.0 student with an interest in aeronautical engineering.
Visualizing and memorizing playbooks is one of the most difficult aspects of being a quarterback in the NFL. Dobbs made a joke out of voluminous playbooks. Now on his fifth team in the span of a year, Dobbs has mastered the shorthand learning manuals. In three preseason games with the Cleveland Browns, Dobbs completed 35 of 53 passes for 338 yards, two touchdowns and had 57 rushing yards and one rushing score.
Dobbs was drafted by Pittsburgh as a developmental quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger in 2017, but few expected him to hang on to his career as long as he did. However, it was his most recent stop in Tennessee that nearly became his defining moment. The first starts of his career only came in the final two games of the 2022 season, after hanging on with the Tennessee Titans. During the final three minutes of a Week 18 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, Dobbs was hit from behind by blitzing safety Rayshawn Jenkins as he backed up to throw, swinging it forward, where he was picked up by Josh Allen and returned for the winning touchdown. This fumble slammed Tennessee’s playoff door. Dobbs now has the Vikings on an upward trajectory in the NFC North after their fifth straight win and has an opportunity to redeem themselves from last year’s mistake.
If there is any justice in the world, Dobbs will lead Minnesota into the playoffs while Deshaun Watson, the quarterback Dobbs held a clipboard for during the preseason, continues his regression as a quarterback . Through a combination of careless planning and karma, Cleveland traded Dobbs to Arizona in exchange for a meager fifth-round pick. Since arriving in Minnesota from Arizona nearly two weeks ago in exchange for a 2024 sixth- and seventh-round pick, Dobbs has mocked any players who worry about the task of digesting NFL playbooks. In Week 1, Dobbs took the field after an injury to backup quarterback Jaren Hall and led the Vikings to a comeback victory despite only having a few days to get to know his receivers.
Handed the reins early against New Orleans after his first full week of practice, Dobbs let the good times roll to the tune of 312 total yards and two touchdowns in a 27-19 win. Seeing another player who cost his franchise a seventh-round pick emerge mid-season to go on a magical run through the rest of the schedule is a sight we’ve seen before with Brock Purdy.
Minnesota may not have the upside that the 49ers team had, but Justin Jefferson will return from injury in the coming weeks. Dobbs has been around a lot longer than Purdy, but this is the first time he’s been given the opportunity to thrive and play. Two games don’t make a season, but Dobbs is already receiving comeback player of the year buzz. But how can we return when they never arrived?
In two games as a Viking, Dobbs has almost become a mythological figure doing chemistry from inside and outside the pocket. When he is running donuts around the defense and erasing the memory of Kirk Cousins, it’s clear the Vikings have something special brewing.
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