Josh Dobbs Says Cardinals Coach Assured Him He Wouldn't Be Traded
By Jason Hall
November 10, 2023
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs said Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon assured him that he wouldn't be traded one day prior to being dealt hours before the NFL's deadline last week.
“I go to the facility on Monday and JG, the head coach in Arizona, called me into his office and said, ‘We’re going to start Clayton Tune,” Dobbs said in the latest episode of his Torchbearers podcast (h/t ProFootballTalk) alongside fellow University of Tennessee alum and Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith. “I was upset with it but I understood the situation the franchise was in.”
“Woke up Tuesday morning with a text from my agent saying, ‘You could be traded today because it’s the trade deadline,’” Dobbs added. “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, OK, cool. So then I woke up to that text saying all right the trade deadline’s in four hours, you could be traded, you could go to Minnesota or go back to Cleveland.”
Dobbs said he came to realize that everything he was told in the previous day and a half was untrue after being traded to the Vikings.
“The last 36 hours, whatever was told to you, something different has happened,” Dobbs said.
Dobbs led the Vikings to a 31-28 win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10 after taking over for rookie quarterback Jaren Hall, who suffered a concussion on the team's opening drive, just five days after being traded. The former Tennessee standout threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 20 of 30 passing, while also recording a team-best 66 yards and one touchdown on seven rushing attempts during Sunday's win.
Dobbs had previously started eight games for the Cardinals in the absence of franchise quarterback Kyler Murray in 2023 and made two starts for the Tennessee Titans in 2022 after predominantly serving as a backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns. Dobbs will make his first start for the Vikings in Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium.