During the preseason, a few players capture the hearts of Americans for a few weeks before slipping back into irrelevance.
Over the past few years, Joshua Dobbs has been a key part of that conversation.
Pastronaut has been in the league for seven years, but has started just 14 games. He is a preseason icon every August, but during the regular season he has bounced around between teams as a backup or practice squad member.
The Steelers selected Dobbs in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft out of the University of Tennessee.
He was quickly named the starting quarterback for Pittsburgh’s preseason opener against the New York Giants, a game that marked the beginning of a symbolic preseason run.
Dobbs remained on Pittsburgh’s roster as the third quarterback behind Landry Jones, Ben Roethlisberger’s longtime backup. Dobbs had to fill in for Roethlisberger in 2018 and spent the following season with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He has since played for the Cleveland Browns, Steelers, Detroit Lions, Tennessee Titans, Browns, Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings, and is currently with the San Francisco 49ers, where he is once again having a major impact in the preseason.
Dobbs performed so well for the Browns in the 2023 preseason that the team was able to trade him to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for a fifth-round pick, a player the Browns signed as a free agent in exchange for a fifth-round pick just a few preseason games into the season.
That’s how dominant he is this time of year.
Dobbs began the season in desperation after the Cardinals lost Kyler Murray for the season. The Cardinals traded him to the Minnesota Vikings last October, and Dobbs quickly became Kirk Cousins’ replacement.
When the opportunity arises, Dobbs finds a way to rise to the occasion and thrive.
He signed a one-year contract worth $2.25 million to join the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. He’s currently fighting Brandon Allen. for the backup quarterback job.
Allen served as the backup to Brock Purdy last year, but Dobbs has shown flashes of flash again in the preseason, and it will be hard for Kyle Shanahan and the Niners brass to ignore the excitement Dobbs brings to the offense with his leg power and athleticism, which is a whole different pace than Purdy’s.
It’s incredible how hard Dobbs has to work to secure these backup quarterback positions, and the team is likely in serious trouble if he has to start a lot of games, but he’s one of the best preseason heroes of our time and deserves to be rewarded for providing some buzz during otherwise boring games.
