The Arizona Cardinals traded quarterback Joshua Dobbs to the Minnesota Vikings hours before the NFL trade deadline. Let’s run through the details of the deal and grade the trade for both teams.
Grading the Joshua Dobbs Trade From Cardinals to Vikings
Kirk Cousins played some of the best football of his career in 2023 before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 8. After an abhorrent 0-3 start to the season, Minnesota rattled off four wins in a five-game stretch, doing so without Justin Jefferson for their three most recent wins.
Minnesota currently sits seventh in the NFC standings. They could have completely blown things up and tanked the rest of the season, but decided to trade for a veteran passer who has been starting games all season.
In the deal, the Cardinals send Dobbs and a seventh-round pick for a sixth-round pick.
Journeyman QB Gets Chance To Show Skills in a Decent Environment
The biggest winner of the entire deal is undoubtedly Dobbs. The journeyman backup started two games a season ago on a Tennessee Titans team that was injured beyond belief with an atrocious offensive line blocking for him. Likewise, many believed the Cardinals were the worst team in the NFL heading into 2023.
The Vikings, meanwhile, have a good offensive line and a myriad of weapons at Dobbs’ disposal. This is the best chance he has of proving himself worthy of a high-end backup contract.
At the same time, Minnesota gets a chance to continue competing for the NFC North crown or a Wild Card spot. With the defense looking improved, Dobbs could provide enough with his arm and legs to keep this offense, and the team, afloat.
However, after not throwing an interception in his first four games of the season, Dobbs has turned the ball over five times through the air in his past four starts. He’s also fumbled once in each of the past five games, and he fumbled three times against the Commanders in Week 1.
But behind a much better offensive line with better weapons at his disposal, we should see the best version of Dobbs once he gets his footing in Minneapolis.
The Vikings’ defense currently ranks 12th in EPA and has been the fourth-best defense since Week 6 in that same metric. If that kind of defensive performance persists, all Dobbs needs to do is take care of the ball and play complementary football.
Dobbs likely won’t be enough to keep them in legitimate contention in the NFC, but throwing Jaren Hall to the wolves wouldn’t have benefited anybody on the roster. Even if Minnesota can’t remain competitive, completely giving up was never an option.
And trading Ezra Cleveland got them a sixth-round pick back after trading theirs for Dobbs.
Grade: A
Cardinals Remove Doubt, Receive Compensation in Return
The move is incredibly simple for the Cardinals. They traded for Dobbs before the season to start in Kyler Murray’s absence. It was a curious decision at the time because Colt McCoy was established there, but Dobbs likely gave this underwhelming roster a better chance to win games because of his rushing ability.
Now, Murray is about to return, and Arizona saw an opportunity to get compensation for an asset they no longer had a need for.
MORE: 2023 NFL Trade Deadline Tracker
At the end of the day, football is a business. The Cardinals are in a complete rebuild, so any draft capital they can accumulate is a positive.
They originally traded a fifth-round pick to Cleveland for Dobbs and only received a sixth when they traded him. But losing a round of compensation for half a season of starting QB play is certainly not the worst return in the world.
Grade: A
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