Browns Deal Former Steelers QB to Cardinals

The Cleveland Browns are trading former Steelers quarterback Josh Dobbs and a seventh-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for a fifth-round pick, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

Five hours ago, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski named Dobbs the backup quarterback for the team behind Deshaun Watson. Now, upstart rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson will earn that job and be the understudy of Watson. Dobbs finds a new home in Arizona, which still needs a starting quarterback for the 2023 season, with Kyler Murray recovering from a torn ACL.

Dobbs will compete with Colt McCoy, Clayton Tune, David Blough, and Jeff Driskel for that starting opportunity. He joined the Browns last year, but they promptly released him following Watson’s return. Following that, Dobbs would bounce around to the Lions and Titans. In March, he re-signed with the Browns on a one-year deal.

Dobbs was the Steelers’ fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Tennessee and spent most of the next five seasons as the Steelers’ third-string quarterback. 

He spent all of 2017 as the third-stringer behind Ben Roethlisberger and Landry Jones, and then backed up Roethlisberger in 2018, playing in five games of relief. He completed six of 12 passes for 43 yards.

In 2019, the Steelers traded Dobbs to the Jacksonville Jaguars, as he had fallen behind Mason Rudolph on the depth chart. Dobbs spent that season in Jacksonville as the Steelers struggled with Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at quarterback.

In 2020, the Steelers re-signed Dobbs, and he spent the last two years again as the third-string quarterback in Pittsburgh behind Roethlisberger and Rudolph. He played in one game in 2020, the season finale in Cleveland, completing 4 of 5 passes for 2 yards. Dobbs would re-sign with the Steelers on a one-year contract following that season. Dobbs suffered a turf toe injury before the 2021 season, landing him on injured reserve.