ATLANTA – A few days ago, a man walked into the locker room at the Minnesota Vikings practice facility carrying a coat hanger with a red No. 15 jersey on it as if he had just picked it up from the discount shelf at a local sporting goods store. Vikings center Garrett Bradbury noticed this man and decided to introduce him. He stood up and held out his hand.
“Garrett,” he said.
“Josh Dobbs,” the man replied.
“Welcome, man,” Bradbury said.
“I’m thrilled to be here,” Dobbs replied.
There was a pause. Then Dobbs put two and two together: This was the Vikings’ center, a teammate of some importance to a quarterback just starting to find his way in a new city, a new team, a new offense.
“I actually have a few questions for you about rhythm if you have some time,” he said.
“At any time!” Bradbury said, secretly wondering how on earth Dobbs had thought about cadences. “Just write to me about it any time.”
Neither man could have known then what we know today. That just 78 hours after that introduction, Dobbs had his hands between Bradbury’s legs while 71,000 opposing fans and 11 Atlanta Falcons defenders were breathing down their necks. Five days after being acquired in a deal with the Arizona Cardinals, Dobbs would not only run the Vikings’ offense but also improvise on the fly, play with his legs and command the unit as if he had led it for years, leading Minnesota to an unlikely one on Sunday and a thrilling 31:28 victory over the Falcons. He completed 20 of 30 passes for 158 yards through the air. He also ran for 66 yards on seven carries. At the time of that first conversation, Dobbs was just trying to find his way.
After meeting Bradbury, he strolled to his locker. Reporters crowded around him. Cameras zoomed in on his confused face. He talked about trade. About how he went from starter to backup in the 36 hours that followed last weekend’s Cardinals loss, until he learned the Vikings had added him after Kirk Cousins’ right Achilles tendon rupture. The news stunned him. Really? After the first eight games of the season begin? After you finally found an apartment? He had to move again?
He lived out of the same suitcase for the first six weeks of the 2023 season. This is what happens when the Cleveland Browns trade you late in training camp. His furniture finally arrived last week. To celebrate, his parents flew from their home in Alpharetta, Georgia, to stay with him and watch him play. They enjoyed the weekend, Dobbs said, and even though he was unhappy with his play, they all appreciated the brief moment of stability.
In reality, the only thing that has been stable in his young NFL career has been the color of the jersey he wears in practice. Quarterbacks almost always wear red, whether the game day version is Steeler black, Titanium blue, Cardinal red, or now Viking purple. The 28-year-old has played games for four teams and featured in three more in three and a half years, a dizzying ride he likes to describe as “a beautiful journey”. As he finished the introductory interview Thursday, he scanned the Vikings’ locker room, looking left and then right. He blinked hard. What appeared to be tears flickering in his eyes.
“It’s going to be a great story,” he said.
The man stands at a lectern inside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Vikings won. The locker room vibrates. In an adjacent interview room, the man grabs the microphone with his right hand, looks up at the media sitting in front of him and says, “What’s up, y’all?” I’m Josh Dobbs. It’s an honor to be in Minnesota. (Wanted to) introduce myself.”
Mission accomplished.
Dobbs had just led the Vikings on a game-winning, 11-play, 75-yard drive with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left. The momentum was building like a tidal wave, and Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was pacing back and forth in the press box as he watched.
Adofo-Mensah was nervous, nervous and undoubtedly entertaining in a nerve-wracking afternoon. The team’s starting quarterback, rookie Jaren Hall, left with a concussion on his second drive of the game after a collision at the goal line. One of the team’s starting wide receivers, KJ Osborn, was sent off after a heavy hit over the middle. Backup running back Cam Akers was taken to the locker room with an Achilles tendon injury. Superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson watched from the sidelines for the fourth straight game and rising left tackle Christian Darrisaw was a late scratch with a groin injury.
Thanks to a valiant performance from Brian Flores’ defensive unit and a gutsy offensive performance, the Vikings had a chance that was in the hands of the man Adofo-Mensah had just won. At the time of the deal, the Vikings were sure of one thing: Dobbs could learn an offense on a whim. Don’t memorize an offensive playbook or call sheet – just learn it. Dobbs’ college coach at Tennessee, Butch Jones, described this trait as Dobbs’ functional intelligence.
“It’s not just about booking smart,” Jones said. “He is able to apply what he has learned and take it on the field. The great thing is that you only have to tell him once.”
By now you probably know that Dobbs is legitimately a rocket scientist. His coursework at college in Tennessee consisted of mastering engineering equations. This passion stems from a childhood fascination with space. The math background doesn’t translate directly to football, but as Dobbs said, there are more similarities between quarterbacks and engineers than you might think.
“Defenses present me with various problems where you’re in charge of evaluating data from film, and you have to evaluate those problems and solve them quickly to get your team into efficient situations,” he said in a video detailing an external internship that he completed with NASA. Yes, you read that correctly.
Getting Dobbs to do it on Sunday was never the Vikings’ plan, but then again, Dobbs’ path rarely went according to plan. If he felt comfortable in the heat Sunday against the Falcons, it’s only because he knows what it feels like to be thrown into the fire. The first time Dobbs took the field at the University of Tennessee was as a true freshman. Against Alabama. At Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Tennessee starter Justin Worley left with an injury, and Dobbs came in and led the Volunteers in their only two shots of the game in a 45-10 loss. Dobbs continued to assist Worley in the first seven games of his second season. When Worley suffered an injury, Jones gave Dobbs his first start of the season against a familiar opponent: Alabama.
“We asked him to be able to do run-pass checks, run-run checks, run-RPOs, designed quarterback runs and nakeds,” Jones said Sunday. “Everything you could ask of a quarterback, we asked of him. He didn’t blink. He was very balanced. He carried it out.”
The Vikings hoped those traits would shine through in Hall, which is why they focused their entire week of preparation on the rookie. Hall took part in all first team reps in training. He met frequently with quarterbacks coach Chris O’Hara. Minnesota thought it could handle the surgery, and Hall got off to a promising start before his head bounced off the turf during a tackle by Falcons cornerback Jeff Okudah on the game’s second drive.
Dobbs watched the hit and initially worried about his new teammate. Realizing the severity, he stood up and started throwing. He met with the Vikings’ offensive players to go over their five most commonly used cadences. He practiced snaps with Bradbury for the first time. He discussed some of the Vikings’ priority play calls with O’Hara.
Time flew by and before he knew it he was on the field, fending off tackles, escaping the pockets and listening to Kevin O’Connell replay the plays in his ear. Through the crackling microphones, O’Connell described how Dobbs would have to drop back, where the primary metrics would be, what routes would be on the left side, and what routes the receivers would be running on the right side. In fact, Dobbs said, the coach used language Dobbs had become accustomed to in previous systems to translate it into what was needed Sunday.
“It’s like you take AP Spanish all year long and show up on Wednesday and someone says you have an AP French exam on Sunday,” Dobbs said. “Someone will speak to you in Spanish and translate it into French. That’s kind of what was going on out there.”
The operation was initially disjointed. The Falcons sacked Dobbs for a safety on its first possession. He fumbled the closest one. But in the spirit of the team he now plays for, a team that suffered setbacks in the first nine weeks in the form of injuries to stars like Jefferson and Cousins, Dobbs responded.
After a fumble on the Vikings’ first possession of the second half, Dobbs began to find a rhythm. He fought for first downs and eliminated linebackers like he hit a game-breaker. He climbed into the pocket and placed the ball precisely on the pitch. He mastered the game efficiently, effectively and confidently. He threw a 2-yard touchdown to Alexander Mattison in the second quarter, rushed 18 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and also led two field goal drives in the second half. Each successful drive strengthened Dobbs and his teammates’ belief that their fourth straight victory was within reach, even after Atlanta scored just before the two-minute warning to take a 28-24 lead.
No matter what was happening around him — safeties, fumbles, defensive failures — Dobbs wasn’t shaken. He had already been fired before. He had already turned the ball over once. He had been traded before. He had also engineered game-winning drives before, including one that will forever remain in Tennessee history when he completed a 43-yard Hail Mary to Jauan Jennings to win at Georgia in 2016.
Facing a fourth-and-seven Sunday that collapsed the pocket, Dobbs teleported through bodies and raced to first down. And then, in the red zone, with O’Connell feeding him information in his helmet about the Falcons’ tendency to play Cover 4 in the red zone, Dobbs shifted his gaze to his right and then found wide receiver Brandon Powell in the End zone for the starting shot.
Powell threw up the football in celebration. O’Connell pumped his fist aggressively, then put on his headset in joy. Dobbs writhed, screaming, taking in the energy of it all.
“I know he’s very, very smart,” O’Connell said. “But I can tell you that what he did in five days was as impressive as what I’ve seen from a quarterback who went up against that defense and found a way.”
When Jones arrived at his office at Arkansas State University Sunday night, he told a caller that he hadn’t seen the game but that his phone hadn’t stopped ringing all day. When informed of the details of Dobbs’ exploits, Jones chuckled and said he wasn’t at all surprised.
“What we discovered early on with Josh is that when you bring him to life when he’s in the game settings, the true form of Josh Dobbs emerges,” Jones said. “This is where his natural instincts come into play.”
O’Connell could barely speak at his press conference. His voice sounded like it was made of gravel and was strained to the limit by his impromptu in-game installation sessions as Dobbs moved from one play to the next.
“As you can hear, I’ve used this quite a bit,” he said, pointing to his throat.
He was talking about Dobbs. About the command, about the athleticism, about the efficiency. A local reporter then asked a question about what he thought O’Connell meant for Dobbs to perform like that nearly 30 minutes from his birthplace.
“This may surprise you,” O’Connell interjected, “but I only met him a few days ago and didn’t even know it. You just gave me something to talk to our new quarterback about.”
“He’s from Alpharetta High,” the reporter replied.
“Well, here we go,” O’Connell said.
Dobbs’ parents attended Sunday’s game, and when it comes to Dobbs’ story, Jones said it starts there – with Robert and Stephanie – who supported their child’s dreams. Who poured gasoline on the fire of the boy who wanted to study aerospace engineering and quarterback at the same time. Who watched their son move from team to team, city to city, opportunity to opportunity, believing he could continually improve.
Jacob Nichols, who coached Dobbs in high school, was preparing for an upcoming high school playoff game in Georgia when his phone heard what his former player had done to the local team.
When he heard that, he couldn’t help but think of the first time he truly understood what the man could become. Dobbs had been competing for the starting spot, but the coaches decided to sign another player. Needing a spark late in the game, they turned to the plucky junior, who led the team down the field, completed a game-winning cross and never looked back.
The Vikings needed more than just a spark on Sunday. They needed a savior. By the time the man finished his magic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, everyone in the Vikings locker room and everyone watching in the newest place he calls home knew his name.
His name is Josh Dobbs. He is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
(Photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)