Getty Image / Kevin Abele
Yesterday, the Cleveland Browns made a couple of big decisions at quarterback as they prepared to get their roster set for the 2023 NFL season.
They announced that Josh Dobbs would be their QB2 heading into the regular season and they decided to waive Kellen Mond.
Then things unexpectedly changed.
Later in the day, it was announced that the Browns were actually going to be trading Dobbs to the Arizona Cardinals and then they reversed their decision to release Mond.
It was an odd situation as the Browns didn’t necessarily have to make those decisions about the QB position yet if they still had some things in the works.
It turns out that the reason they made the announcements just to have things change later in the day is because they weren’t expecting to trade Dobbs.
According to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, the Cardinals called the Browns out of the blue and surprised them with a trade offer for Dobbs.
How #Browns rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson made Josh Dobbs expendable, and how Dobbs' trade to the #Cardinals came out of the blue: Insider https://t.co/kKg0oSdF3L
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) August 25, 2023
I think it’s safe to say that the Cleveland Browns weren’t the only ones surprised by the offer from the Cardinals.
The expectation throughout the offseason has been that Colt McCoy would be the team’s starting quarterback until Kyler Murray returns from his ACL injury.
He had been Murray’s replacement when he got hurt last year, but got hurt himself in his 3rd start.
He wasn’t particularly good last year. He was responsible for just 1 touchdown while throwing 3 interceptions, but it’s not like Josh Dobbs was particularly good either.
He went 0-2 as the starter for the Tennessee Titans, throwing 2 touchdown passes and a pair of interceptions. He also completed just 58.8% of his pass attempts.
Maybe McCoy’s age caught up with him during the offseason and the Arizona Cardinals decided they really needed somebody else.
Still, it was surprising that the answer they arrived at was an offer to the Cleveland Browns for Joshua Dobbs.