Report: Cardinals Expected to Start Josh Dobbs vs. Commanders

The Arizona Cardinals are expected to start Josh Dobbs in Week 1.

TEMPE -- The Arizona Cardinals are expected to start Josh Dobbs as their quarterback in Week 1 against the Washington Commanders, according to Ian Rapoport.

"Sources: The #AZCardinals are expected have Josh Dobbs as their starting QB this week, with rookie Clayton Tune getting backup reps," he said in a tweet. 

"They’ll evaluate the situation each week, but this is how it begins."

Sources: The #AZCardinals are expected have Josh Dobbs as their starting QB this week, with rookie Clayton Tune getting backup reps. They’ll evaluate the situation each week, but this is how it begins. pic.twitter.com/eXqXUFj7qv

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 6, 2023

The move doesn't come as a surprise, as the Cardinals tried to sign Dobbs in the offseason before he landed with the Cleveland Browns. Arizona started Colt McCoy in training camp/preseason before cutting him and acquiring Dobbs for a fifth-round pick recently.

Dobbs was expected to compete with fifth-round rookie quarterback Clayton Tune, who garnered some praise with his athleticism and ability to move in the pocket, though it's obvious the Cardinals didn't feel he was ready. 

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon refused to tell reporters who the team would start before Rapoport reported the news.

Commanders head coach Ron Rivera spoke on the quarterback dilemma: 

"But I think the big thing more so than anything else is you just kind of have to assume. I mean, part of it is you have to look at the background of where these coaches are from, who they, who they've coached for in the past, then you try to draw some correlations to that. And then you go back, and you look at what they did at some of their previous stops, and you pay attention to those things. Some of it will lead you in the right direction and some of it, there's nothing there.”

Dobbs was favored to initially earn the starting job thanks to his familiarity in OC Drew Petzing's offense. Despite only being here for two weeks, teammates say he already knows the playbook.

"You can tell he already knows the offense. That's kind of the first thing that kind struck me was like, 'Oh, sh--, okay. We're not coaching him up on anything. He knows. He's telling me what I should [be doing]'" said left tackle D.J. Humphries.

"I think that's the first thing I noticed about him. He's very poised. He's very chill and you can tell he knows this isn't his first time being in this offense. It shows, you can tell."