The Cardinals’ quarterback situation to start the season appears to be in place. Trade acquisition Joshua Dobbs is expected to start in Week 1, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Arizona appeared to name Dobbs the starter in its information packets sent to the NFL ahead of the team’s season opener against the Commanders. As Howard Balzer of PHNX.com notes, the 28-year-old is listed as being set to make his debut in the desert, whereas such a scenario is listed as a hypothetical for rookie Clayton Tune. Wednesday’s report thus comes as no surprise.
Arizona made the noteworthy move of acquiring Dobbs from the Browns not long before roster cutdowns and mere hours after Cleveland named him Deshaun Watson‘s backup. The Browns moved quickly in sending Dobbs to Arizona and in doing so put him position to take on first-team duties right away. The Cardinals then released Colt McCoy, who had been the presumed Week 1 starter to fill in for the injured Kyler Murray.
The latter is on the PUP list, meaning he will miss at least the first four weeks of the campaign. The role of starter will thus be handed on a game-by-game basis, Rapoport notes. Dobbs has spent considerably more time in the NFL compared to Tune, having been drafted in 2017. He has only made eight appearances during that time, though, including two late-season starts in 2022 for the Titans. As was the case in Tennessee, Dobbs will now quickly acclimate himself to a new offensive system before seeing immediate playing time.
Helping him in that regard is the fact that Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing previously served as quarterbacks coach in Cleveland, giving him a working relationship with Dobbs. Keeping Dobbs in the starter’s role would nevertheless allow Tune, a fifth-rounder who threw a combined 70 touchdown passes during his final two years at Houston, to develop from the sidelines.
Strong play from Dobbs would also, of course, give him an opportunity to find a long-term opportunity either in Arizona or elsewhere in the future. He has bounced around the NFL during his career, but the latest chance to find stability will begin on Sunday with the Cardinals.
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