San Francisco 49ers agree to one-year deal with quarterback Josh Dobbs

Quarterback Josh Dobbs has agreed to a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers, his agent, Mike McCartney, announced Monday.

The deal includes $2.25M fully guaranteed with $750k in playing time incentives, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Dobbs, 29, is well traveled, having spent time with three teams in the last calendar year (Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings). He started eight games for the Cardinals this past season before the Minnesota Vikings acquired him at the trade deadline.

Dobbs led the Vikings to back-to-back wins in November, but after a four-interception performance against the Chicago Bears on “Monday Night Football” and a 3-0 defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders the following week, Minnesota made him inactive for the rest of the season. He finished the season throwing for 2,464 yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 62.8% passing. Dobbs added 421 yards and six scores on the ground. The former Tennessee standout had started just two games prior to the 2023 season.

Dobbs described his season as a “bit of a rollercoaster.”

“What I do on the field doesn’t define the person I am,” Dobbs said in January. “As has been well-documented, I’ve logged interest off the field, but I also understand the power of football and the power of the sport we all love, and we are care about. I also understand my identity isn’t in that. Definitely was a mentally taxing season, a little bit of a rollercoaster, but I have a lot of confidence in myself, and I’ll be excited to see what the future holds.”

Dobbs will compete for the backup role behind Brock Purdy in San Francisco. The 49ers’ quarterback room also includes Brandon Allen.

More on the 2024 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2024 calendar year begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. At that time, contracts running through 2023 officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 5. Beginning March 11 through March 13 teams can enter into a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 19 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 24, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits. Following the restricted free agent deadline follows the 2024 NFL Draft, which runs from April 25-27.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.