The Vikings acquired quarterback Joshua Dobbs from the Cardinals at the NFL trade deadline Tuesday to give them another option at the position with Kirk Cousins out for the season. Here's some background on him:
Five things to know about new Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs
Joshua Dobbs, 28, has a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Tennessee. He had started every game for the Cardinals this season for the injured Kyler Murray.
November 1, 2023 at 11:33AM
* Yes, Dobbs is not only an NFL quarterback, but he is also a rocket scientist. A lover of outer space as a child, he graduated from the University of Tennessee with a 4.0 grade-point average and a degree in aerospace engineering. While he was with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he spent a month at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as part of the NFL Players Association externship.
* Dobbs, who is from the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, was more than a great student at Tennessee. He also led the Volunteers to a 23-12 record as starter, including 3-0 in bowl games, while passing for 7,138 yards and 53 touchdowns and rushing for 2,160 yards and 34 TDs. His senior season included a 43-yard Hail Mary pass to Jauan Jennings to beat Georgia 34-31 in 2016; the Vols haven't beaten the Bulldogs since.
* A fourth-round pick by the Steelers in 2017, Dobbs, 28, is joining his seventh team, including five in the past year. The Titans signed him off the Detroit practice squad last December, and he made his first two NFL starts over the final two weeks of the 2022 season, losing both. Cleveland signed him in March and traded him to Arizona on Aug. 24, and the Cardinals made him their starter over Colt McCoy.
* Dobbs started every game for the Cardinals this season for the injured Kyler Murray. Arizona has been one of the NFL's worst teams as expected, leaving Dobbs' career record as a starter at 1-9. But the one victory was as a nearly two-touchdown underdog: Arizona beat Dallas 28-16 in Week 3. Dobbs completed 17 of 21 passes for 189 yards and a TD and also ran six times for 55 yards.
* Dobbs has alopecia, a disease that causes hair loss, and is a spokesman for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. In September, the Cardinals shared a video where Dobbs met with a cheerleader who had been diagnosed in May; in it, Dobbs said that in college, his razor broke when he was shaving his head, but then his hair never grew back so there was no need to replace it.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
