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Pittsburgh Steelers have a plan for former Tennessee QB Joshua Dobbs
By Paul Harvey
Published:
The 2017 NFL season is set to kick off Thursday evening, and teams have set their 53-man roster for the opening week.
Former Tennessee QB Joshua Dobbs has officially made the roster of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which isn’t a surprise. The team reportedly has a plan in place to groom Dobbs to eventually be the backup to starter Ben Roethlisberger after snagging him with a fourth-round draft pick.
Bob Labriola shared a breakdown of the roster on the team’s website. It looks likes Dobbs will begin this season as the third-string QB behind Roethlisberger and Landry Jones, and it will remain that way for duration of the season. The Steelers will take their time while developing the former Vols’ signal caller.
The depth chart at this position seemingly was set as soon as the Steelers spent a fourth-round pick on Josh Dobbs. Following a period of depending on veterans to fill the role of backup quarterback and having that consistently blow up in their faces because of injuries, the Steelers reversed the trend by deciding to draft and develop their own backup quarterback. It worked with Landry Jones, originally a fourth-round pick in 2013…and Dobbs will be brought along in a similar fashion. As incongruous as it might seem given the history of the Tennessee program, Dobbs had no position coach during his college career, and his mechanics reflect that. Dobbs improved over the course of the preseason, and the game-winning drive in the preseason finale was a nice cherry on top, but there’s no question he’s raw and clearly No. 3 on this depth chart.
Dobbs finished his Tennessee career with 7,138 yards passing and 53 TDs, while also rushing for 2,160 yards and 32 TDs.
The former Vols signal caller has completed 38-of-64 passes for 406 yards, two TDs and three INTs during the preseason. His most recent performance against the Carolina Panthers was his best. He threw for 212 yards and two combined TDs.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
