Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback quickly falling out of favor with Vikings

In his first season as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals, Monti Ossenfort has done a few things that seemed strange in foresight. For example, he traded a former eighth-overall pick for a seventh-rounder. But Isaiah Simmons, despite displaying improved coverage skills with the New York Giants, has just 36 total tackles, one tackle for a loss, and zero sacks, and zero quarterback hits in just 281 snaps on defense. 

The most puzzling move, however, involved trading for quarterback Joshua Dobbs, only to trade him away just over two months later. As you may remember, Dobbs enjoyed one of his best games as a pro on the same day the Cardinals suffered a historic loss, and appeared to be demoralizing for some.

It was during that time that I warned fans not to “put much stock” into Dobbs’ initial success, only for the quarterback to enjoy a near-repeat performance the following week. That was about as good as it got for Dobbs so far as a Viking, as he has since posted quarterback ratings of 80.3, 54.3, and 50.8, throwing two touchdowns and five interceptions.

Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback again falling out of favor

Yesterday, we found out Dobbs wouldn’t start for the Vikings this week. In fact, he won’t even be the QB2, as Jaren Hall, returning from a concussion that he sustained the week Dobbs made his debut for Minnesota, will take over duties as the backup. That leaves Dobbs as the third quarterback on the depth chart. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said the following regarding the move:

""I just think that Jaren is fully healthy now. I think he's really gotten back on the grass and really worked through his continued development. [We] wanted him to go about the week this week simulating as if he was playing, just using it as a real tool for his development and growth, and he's done a nice job.""

- Kevin O'Connell

Source: Vikings rule out RB Mattison, RT O'Neill, move Dobbs to QB3 by Kevin Seifert, ESPN

That may be the case, but you would still think that if he still had faith in Dobbs, the 28-year-old would be the key backup and not the third man on the depth chart. This is a 7-6 football team that is still well in the playoff race, and you want to give your better players a chance to be the priority backups in the event of an injury. 

Dobbs’ demotion to the QB3 role indicates that O’Connell no longer trusts his quarterback after the coach pulled him in favor of Nick Mullens during the Vikings 3-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Dobbs finished with a 43.5 completion percentage, 63 passing yards, and just 2.7 yards per attempt. 

(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)