Could Steelers Josh Dobbs still beat out Dwayne Haskins for third QB job?

Recent reports suggest that Dwayne Haskins isn’t assured a roster spot. Here’s why Josh Dobbs could still beat him out to become Steelers third quarterback.

To the surprise of many, Ben Roethlisberger isn’t the only quarterback who is going to be resting on Friday night against the Carolina Panthers in Pittsburgh’s final preseason game. Joining him on the bench will be fourth-year quarterback, Mason Rudolph, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor confirms.

This certainly leaves a statement. The fact that Rudolph won’t be playing in this game means that he has shown the Steelers enough to lock up the number two quarterback spot. While this might not sit well with many fans hoping that Dwayne Haskins would get that shot, leapfrogging Rudolph on the depth chart doesn’t seem like a realistic possibility after what we’ve heard.

While Haskins may not be fighting for the number two quarterback job anymore, perhaps he’s still in a fight for a roster spot entirely. Recently, Brooke Pryor spoke to Andrew Philipponi on 93.7 The Fan – saying that she believes Rudolph has locked up the backup QB job, but still thinks there is a competition between Haskins and Dobbs for the final spot on the roster:

Though Haskins has been running ahead of Dobbs in each game this preseason (and will do so again on Friday night), perhaps there is some truth to this.

Could Haskins lose his roster spot on Steelers?

When the team signed Dwayne Haskins, many fans believed that he was going to overthrow Mason Rudolph to back up Ben Roethlisberger this year. Some even believed that he was destined to be Big Ben’s successor. However, I never understood those brash assumptions.

Other than his history as a former 15th overall pick, what has Haskins done to make us believe that he’s been the answer this team has been waiting for? In two of his three preseason games so far, Haskins has posted a passer rating below 84.0. This isn’t exactly what you’d hope for when you are in a heated battle to become the backup.

Now that Rudolph sits safely in the driver’s seat as the team’s QB2, it’s important to consider what the Steelers will value in their QB3. In the past, this spot is typically reserved for a player who can help Big Ben prepare for games, can act as a scout-team quarterback, and can help as almost an assistant coach from the sidelines on gameday (think Bruce Gradkowski).

For these reasons, there’s a solid chance that the Steelers (and Ben Roethlisberger) could really like Josh Dobbs for this role. Ben has spoken highly of Dobbs in the past and the former Tennessee product was responsible for dialing up several touchdown plays in the red zone last year.

Dobbs is clearly a very intelligent player with a terrific locker room presence. He’s a player the coaches seem to love, and he could probably pursue a coaching career himself when his playing days are over – that is, if he decides not to put his aerospace engineering degree to use right away.

This isn’t to say that Haskins couldn’t be a good scout team quarterback; rather that the team already knows that Dobbs can help in this department. If Dobbs has an excellent showing against the Panthers, this could have the team thinking about which would serve more value as a game-day inactive on Sundays.

Some fans like to think that they have it all figured out, but some of these decisions aren’t as cut and dry as we make them out to be. Dwayne Haskins is likely to end up on Pittsburgh’s final roster this year, but I wouldn’t go chiseling his name in stone just yet.