Former Steelers QB Likely to Start for Cardinals

Former Steelers quarterback Josh Dobbs will likely start for the Arizona Cardinals after the team released veteran quarterback Colt McCoy on Monday, according to Adam Schefter.

The Cardinals traded for Dobbs last Thursday from the Cleveland Browns for a fifth-round pick. He is in the mix for the starting job and the likely starter with backup Clayton Tune in the mix as Kyler Murray recovers from a torn ACL that landed him on the PUP list.

Hours before the trade, 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 needed a starting quarterback for the 2023 season, with Murray recovering from his injury.

Dobbs was in the mix with McCoy, 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.