Josh Dobbs tells crazy NFL trade story that gives behind the scenes look at life in the NFL
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Josh Dobbs discussed this week on the "Torchbearers" podcast his wild week that included getting traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Minnesota Vikings and then leading the Vikings to a win against the Atlanta Falcons despite arriving in Minnesota just days before the game. Dobbs' week started with finding out […]
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Josh Dobbs discussed this week on the "Torchbearers" podcast his wild week that included getting traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Minnesota Vikings and then leading the Vikings to a win against the Atlanta Falcons despite arriving in Minnesota just days before the game.
Dobbs' week started with finding out that he wouldn't be starting for the Cardinals after starting the first eight games of the season for Arizona. The Cardinals elected to start rookie Clayton Tune instead of Dobbs.
When Dobbs found out he wouldn't be starting for the Cardinals in Week 9 against the Cleveland Browns, he was also told by Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon that he wasn't going to be traded.
"So I go to the facility on Monday and JG (Jonathan Gannon), the head coach in Arizona, calls me to his office and he says, 'hey, we're going to start Clayton Tune in Cleveland'," said Dobbs. "And this is leading up to Kyler's (Murray) return. I'm not sure when he comes back, but I think he comes back soon so they want to see what the rookie can do. So I understood. I was upset with it, but I understood the situation the franchise was in at that moment."
"So I went home and talked to my agent, just told him about the situation," continued Dobbs. "Went to sleep, woke up Tuesday morning with a text from my agent saying, you could be traded today because it's the trade deadline And listen to this — when I had my meeting with JG in Arizona, he looked at me in the face and he said, 'you're not getting traded, you're not being released, you're going to be here in Arizona'. I was like, okay, cool. So then I woke up to that text saying alright the trade deadline's in four hours, you could be traded, you could go to Minnesota or go back to Cleveland. I was like this day is about to be nuts."
Dobbs was traded to the Vikings just before the deadline and he landed in a situation where he was supposed to back up rookie quarterback Jaren Hall in Week 9 against the Falcons. Hall was making his first career start after starter Kirk Cousins tore his achilles tendon the previous week.
Hall, however, was forced from the game due to injury and Dobbs, despite only being around the team for a couple of days, was thrust into action because he was the only other available quarterback on the gameday roster.
Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell did his best to help Dobbs through the game by talking to the quarterback through the headset in his helmet. NFL coaches can talk to the quarterback through their headset until there's 15 seconds remaining on the play clock. But due to the chaotic nature of getting play calls in, Dobbs wasn't always able to hear everything O'Connell was trying to communicate to him.
"It would be like this, he would say, on your right, you got a go (route) and you got an out and then it cuts out," said Dobbs.
The whole episode is worth checking out. Dobbs goes in depth about the behind the scenes things in the NFL that fans don't typically think about. Moving expenses, breaking leases, showing up to a new franchise without knowing anyone (which apparently includes making sure you don't sit in a new teammate's seat), and packing to go to a new city on a moment's notice are all covered by the former Vol.
Former Tennessee HC Butch Jones gave his thoughts on Josh Dobbs leading the Vikings to a win against the Falcons
Butch coached Dobbs for four seasons at Tennessee
