QB Dobbs’ traits just like Prescott’s in many ways
fourth round but the identical position, No. 135 overall.
And each went to a pro team that had greatness everywhere on offense — the line, receivers, running back and veteran quarterback.
Things, though, changed quickly in Dallas when backup quarterback Kellen Moore was lost early in training camp with a broken ankle, and then later in that camp a bone broke in Tony Romo’s back.
It flung open the door for one of the greatest rookie seasons by an NFL quarterback this side of Ben Roethlisberger.
No one dares suggest anything remotely similar could happen to Dobbs and the Steelers next season, and the coaches are quick to deflect any idea that Dobbs could be Roethlisberger’s successor.
But no one has said he cannot. Unlikely things have occurred at quarterback, right here.
Go back to 1983, when the Steelers thought they had a healthy Terry Bradshaw in his prime at age 35, Roethlisberger’s age today. They passed on drafting Dan Marino. Bradshaw had elbow surgery that spring and played only one more game. Cliff Stoudt, a fifthround pick in his seventh season, started 15 games, and they won the division.
Neil O’Donnell, drafted in the third round in 1990, became the full-time starter in 1992, helped the Steelers to a top playoff seed that year and into the Super Bowl in the 1995 season.
Roethlisberger was supposed to sit and learn behind veteran Tommy Maddox in 2004 until an elbow injury to the starter in the second game thrust the rookie into the job all the way to the AFC championship. He has never left.
Maybe Dobbs will follow the path of other quarterbacks drafted by the Steelers since Roethlisbeger, such as Omar Jacobs and Dennis Dixon, or eventually become a backup like Landry Jones.
But who is to say Dobbs could not some day take over for Roethlisberger, who briefly thought of retiring this year? Unlikely, perhaps. Impossible, no. Again Prescott is an example of how quickly things can change.
“We have a great one,” general manager Kevin Colbert said, referring to Roethlisberger.
Coach Mike Tomlin thinks he has a good one in Dobbs.
“We just like everything we saw about Josh, not only in terms of the potential upside with his game but also the individual command and natural leadership skills, the communication skills. The things that accompany the quarterback position are very natural for him. We were excited about him.”
Going to the right team can make or break a quarterback in the pros. Who knows how many quarterbacks’ futures were altered by playing for, say, the Cleveland Browns. What might have happened to Prescott had he gone to Cleveland instead of the perfect spot in Dallas with all that talent around him?
Dobbs might someday get that kind of chance with the Steelers. They’d prefer it not to happen too soon.
• NOTES — Dobbs picked up his aerospace engineering diploma at Tennessee’s graduation Thursday, celebrated with friends and family and arrived in Pittsburgh that night. ... The Steelers released halfback Dreamius Smith. ... The rookies had two practices Friday, will have two more Saturday with one scheduled Sunday. ... Of the 51 rookies listed on the weekend roster, 22 are on unsigned tryouts. Quarterback Dillon Buechel, of McKees Rocks and Duquesne University, is one of 10 players either from Western Pennsylvania or local colleges on tryouts.