Joshua Dobbs compares learning to fly in Northern California to playing quarterback in NFL

Josh Dobbs is the 49ers quarterback who dabbles in aerospace engineering. And he’s started another pursuit — learning to fly.

He conceded this week that he’ll probably hit pause on his pilot training until after the season is over. After all, he also needs to absorb the 49ers offense. That’s another good trait for Dobbs, he can absorb a playbook at an accelerated rate. San Francisco is his seventh team and fifth in the last 20 months.

But this football nomad definitely finds peace in the skies. He admitted this week that flying helps his quarterbacking skills and vice versa. No wonder he earned the nickname “Passtronaut.”

“There’s actually a lot of crossover,” Dobbs told reporters. “That talk to FAA, they repeat, they say a call, you’ve got to repeat it back to them very specifically. You’ve got a lot of stuff going on. It’s just like what you’re saying in the pocket. You got to call out one of coach (Kyle) Shanahan’s plays. They get real wordy in there. So it’s been good crossover between the two.”

Dobbs said he completed 35 of the needed 40 hours for his private pilots license. And he spent a chunk of that time flying the crowded skies over north-central California.

“I’ve always had a passion, an affinity for aviation and aerospace engineering,” Dobbs said. “I try to use my platform to show that you can be an NFL football player but also, if you want to be really good at something else and you have the time and work ethic, you can also do that.”

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Dobbs is competing with Brandon Allen to be 49ers QB2

Steering it back to football, the 49ers represent Dobbs’ seventh team. Plus, he did two stints with the Steelers, the team that drafted him in the fourth round back in 2017.

He probably now gets triggered by a moving box after what happened in 2023. In January 2023, he was living in Nashville and quarterbacking the Titans. Then by March, the Browns signed him, so he moved to Cleveland. Dobbs got through Browns training camp only to see Cleveland trade him to the Cardinals, where he was needed to be a place-holder until Kyler Murray‘s knee fully healed.

Then Arizona traded Dobbs to the Vikings by Halloween so the quarterback could replace Kirk Cousins, who’d ruptured his Achilles. He started a combined 12 games for the Cardinals and Vikings. But Minnesota demoted him in favor of a rookie by season’s end.

“It was crazy. I think crazy is the simplest term to define it,” Dobbs said Wednesday during a 49ers media availability. “It seemed like every time you kind of got settled, it was like, ‘OK, let’s go learn a new offense, learn new teammates, learn a new city, and try to get re-acclimated to go out and play good football.’ So, it definitely was a crazy experience. But I enjoyed every aspect of it.”

Back in March, Dobbs landed in San Francisco. He’s not in 49ers camp to challenge Brock Purdy. Rather, he’s vying with Brandon Allen to be Purdy’s backup.

Dobbs said he “jumped at” the opportunity to play for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, an offensive innovator. He’ll hope to stay for a while, play some football and complete his pilot training.