A National Football League team's worst fear is that their quarterback gets hurt. The Green Bay Packers are already living that nightmare.
On Friday in the Packers' season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, star quarterback Jordan Love sprained his MCL in the dying seconds of Green Bay's desperate comeback attempt. The Packers lost the game, 34-29, and lost Love for a reported three to six weeks.
The Packers foresaw their backup position becoming a problem just two weeks ago, trading a seventh-round pick for the Tennessee Titans' Malik Willis. Willis took over for Love for the final two plays on Friday, failing to get off a Hail Mary attempt on either snap.
But Willis may not be prepared to start at the NFL level, as his 0-3 career touchdown-to-interception ratio might indicate. If that is the case, the Packers might have to quickly swing another trade.
On Monday, Zach Pressnell of FanSided proposed the Packers could acquire San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Josh Dobbs in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick.
"Dobbs isn't in this deal to give the Packers a long-term option," Pressnell said. "Honestly, he's only a step or two better than Malik Willis. But, the fact of the matter is that he is simply better than Willis and the Packers could really use as good of an option at QB as they can get for the next few weeks."
Dobbs, 29, has become something of a national fan favorite. He made his first NFL start at the age of 27 for the Tennessee Titans, played well in two games there, then had an extended run as a starter in 2023, compiling a 3-9 record for the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings.
After signing with the 49ers as a free agent, Dobbs clearly wasn't someone teams had on their radar to compete for starting gigs this season. But he's used to the spotlight, and has recent experience taking over for injured stars, having done so for Kirk Cousins a year ago.
From San Francisco's perspective, the deal only makes sense if the team trusts Brandon Allen to be the emergency starter instead of Dobbs. Allen was named the backup for Monday's game against the New York Jets, but Dobbs has far more recent starting experience.
If the 49ers value the sixth-round pick over Dobbs as depth, they should enthusiastically respond to a call from the Packers offering the deal. And if that is the path Green Bay chooses, it's a surprising admission that the Willis trade never made sense to begin with.
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