He’s back. On Wednesday, the Texans agreed to send veteran wide receiver Randall Cobb back to Green Bay (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). The deal will see the Packers send a 2022 sixth-round pick to the Texans, who will also pick up $3MM of Cobb’s salary in 2021.
The trade came at the request/demand of MVP Aaron Rodgers, who agreed to return to the Packers earlier this week. Without Rodgers’ insistence, it’s unlikely that this trade would have ever materialized. Cobb never played for Matt LaFleur and third-round wide receiver Amari Rodgers was already ticketed for much of the team’s slot work. Still, Rodgers wanted his old pal back and the Packers weren’t about to say no to him, or Cobb’s wealth of experience. Now, Cobb will join Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Devin Funchess, and the other A. Rodgers on the WR depth chart.
Cobb played eight seasons with the Packers, totaling 41 receiving touchdowns and more than 5,500 yards. He secured a $10MM-per-year extension in 2015 — a decent sum at the time — but the Packers let him walk in 2019. Cobb signed with the Cowboys and performed better than anyone else left in Wisconsin.
The 5’10” receiver parlayed that success into a three-year, $27MM contract with the Texans, but that deal was authorized by since-fired HC/GM Bill O’Brien. Cobb was also limited to just ten games. Now that they have slot receiver Anthony Miller, the new administration was willing to part with him.
Cobb, 31 in August, is scheduled to earn a base salary of $8.25MM in 2021 — partially paid by Houston.
Next up: The Packers go shopping for a vintage DeLorean so they can go back to the future.
This is silliness, Cobb caught 55 balls for 828 yards when not even starting most of 2019 in Dallas. Career catch % of 70%. Cobb is just 30. A sixth round pick for a guy who will move the chains all year in 2021. Sounds good to me.
And if Houston is picking up $3m of his $8m contract it’s a no-brainer.
Silliness is indulging a player who thinks he can turn the clock back to 2010.
Silliness is being so sight sighted that you can’t see they don’t need Cobb to be the player he was a decade ago.
The Packers should be focusing on where they will be 5 years from now, not trying to relive past glory years. This is a common mistake many organizations make.
I think you could argue the Packers looking ahead is what got them into this position with Rodgers. They think Jordan Love can be the next franchise QB and went and got him, but didn’t seem to think about how Rodgers might react to it and how it might play out considering the win-now window the Packers are in.
Every GM needs to bringing young players into the organization to replace veterans that are winding down their careers. Packers did nothing wrong there. This whole Rodgers fiasco is just delaying a job that will inevitably have to be done. Rodgers has had a stellar career and deserves to be in the HOF. If he was smart he would be trying to exit with class like Brees, Rivers and others have done. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen that way.
Hmm. If he repeats what he did last year I’d say exiting is the last thing that will be on his mind.
If you always make moves for the future, you’ll miss the window that you have open now. That’s what the Packers have been doing the last two years. They finally “give in” to Rodgers by sending a sixth round pick for a 30 year old wideout. In return they get cap relief and Rodgers will walk next year. Not a huge price to pay, and not really even that much of a help. Imagine if they had drafted a starter the last two drafts.
I agree with you that there are times when it makes sense to go all in and try to hit the home run before the window closes. The Packers have the 7th youngest roster in the league though, so I don’t think they need to be taking an all or nothing gamble right now.
All hail King Aaron. This whole season is going to be about kissing that arrogant, entitled, prima donna a** of his. Sickening
Planning 5 years from now? Even baseball teams rarely try do that anymore. Football almost entire teams change in 5 years, rosters and front offices included. 2-3 years, sure. More than 3 isn’t for the NFL(Not For Long)
I’m using 5 years as the reference point because at that time GMs have to make what is often a financially significant decision, on whether to extend a rookie contract.
even sillier is cobb was in college in 2010
That was two years ago, and in the NFL, 30 is is when players begin declining quickly.
“Cobb signed with the Cowboys and performed better than anyone else left in Wisconsin.”
Davante Adams has entered the chat.
During his lone year in Dallas, he was better than Adams. He’s gone downhill since joining Houston
He played ONE season for Houston. And Cobb wasn’t better than Adams in 2019. Give me a break on that whole comment.
Well, he was definitely better than anyone ELSE left in Wisconsin other than Adams, that’s not up for debate.
Well, good thing I wasn’t debating everyone else then, huh?
That was not in response to you.
By what standard/metric? Adams had better numbers across the board and was on a playoff team that year.
Cobb in 2019 for Dallas:
55 receptions, 828 yards, 3 TDs.
Adams in 2019 for the Packers:
83 receptions, 997 yards, 5 TDs
Respectfully disagree that Cobb was better.
Exactly my thought. Idk what’s up with that sentence. The Wisconsin team actually made the playoffs that season, Cobb and Dallas sat at home.
guess the Packers finally realized that their young qb wasn’t ready and that Rodgers wasn’t playing. I’m sure he will just be a packer this yr and next yr will go-to another team that shows him they want him and will bring his wrs with him
They knew Love wasn’t ready the whole time… that’s why Rodgers contract was set up the way it was. Rodgers was locked in for this season and next. It would give Love enough time to learn and grow under Rodgers.
“They knew?” Do you have an inside source or are you just Schefter-ing?
If they thought he was, they probably would have adjusted Rodgers’ deal. They at least would not have fought him so hard on making him stay. Not hard to exact information from that.
I should have said something like they “figured he would not be ready. I mean it only makes sense… calm down my friend.
Quick! Someone call Jordy Nelson and James Jones and see if they also have anything left in the tank!
Doesn’t matter if they haven’t anything left! All that matters is that Rodgers likes em!
Wait til Rodgers demands the Packers sign Brett Favre as his backup.
Favre would jump at it.
He’d hem and haw for a month first. Probably change his mind six times. And I’m not sure he can jump like he used to with what’s left of that ankle. But yeah. He’d dig it.
He’d be better than the guys we got at backup even in his 50s.
They still don’t have a corner so crybaby can still “ demand” someone. Come playoffs they will get torched again and he will throw another incomplete pass when he could of walked it in. This year thou IF they make the playoffs crybaby will have to go on the road and he isn’t winning on the road.
Jaire says hello! I agree they need someone on the other side… but that is also why they drafted stokes in the first round. My gut tells me he’s going to be thrown in and starting first game. Hope he’s got what it takes. We will find out.
Yep it is … they intercepted Brady three times in a row and Packers went 3 and out after each of them. How quickly they forget.
How is he a crybaby? He hasn’t said anything publicly throughout all this and he’s even said it was just business and he’s not a victim. Cobb cost a 6th round pick, he didn’t demand a star. When you’re one of the best, you get leverage that other players don’t.
Teams always do what’s in their own best interest with players at their convenience, what a tragedy when players operate with the same attitude back.
R32- it’s hilarious that the fans claiming Rodgers is a crybaby whine about him more in 1 day (and they do it daily) than he’s spoken about any of this in 6 months combined. And as soon as someone (me) points it out to them, they accuse you (me) of whining, making things up, and citing the likes of Stephanie A Smith to defend their claims.
Amen rocket. Rodgers is showing packers the same kind of love they showed him when they traded up for love. (See what I did there)
I think the packers will have a good season led by an MVP qb. Then SEE YA GB.
hold on a sec
Not drafting WR help is one of his peeves yet when they draft a talented kid he wants Cobb back?
OH I GET IT!!
They drafted someone with the same initials!
*to the back of my head eyeroll*
Cobb is actually a mentor for amari, and has talked and guided him even before the draft process. He’ll be a good role model for him.
So maybe it was the other Rodgers who demanded they trade for Cobb!
Why should he trust them to acquire talent? Amari Rodgers was a third pick that far too little too late. Aaron Rodgers by that point was obviously fed up. You’re nitpicking at this point. After one side doesn’t trust the other for that long a half-hearted effort to invest a third rounder in a receiver who really doesn’t stand out from the others in the draft is not going to magically erase all the failings from the last two years.
They could have competed better in the draft the last two cycles-much better-and Rodgers blames them for it, and then they said “oh look, we drafted a generic slot receiver in the third round this year!” and expect that to undo everything. It’s too late. He’ll play out his last year that they’ve committed to having him and he wants to do it with a player he trusts.
Aaron Rodgers demands they team install a Chinese buffet in the locker room. Eddy Lacey is en route.
I’m not a Packers fan, but I don’t hate them either. That said, I don’t know which I dislike more, the fact that Erin is such a crybaby and whines until he gets his way, or the fact that the Packers are bending over to accommodate him. Regardless, I hope like heck that he/they fail MISERABLY this year. Go ahead and torch me Packers fans, I probably speak for most of the non-Packers fans out here that are tired of hearing about this stupid azz situation.
I am a packers fan and I don’t blame Rodgers one bit for wanting out. The team decided they wanted to go another direction at QB so he decided he didn’t want them anymore either. Makes sense to me.
And BTW he never whined. He said he is disappointed in how the organization treated him.
How dare the team draft another QB??!! You do know how football works, right?
If your boss brought in someone to take your job, was not committed to keeping you, and refused to give you proper tools to do your job, would you be ticked or just continue to pretend that nothing was wrong? I mean honestly, in real life, not just “I’m going to answer to win a debate” mode. Especially if you were still performing at the top of your field?
Speaking for myself, I’d choose food on my family’s table … but ignoring the apples & oranges of my job compared to Rodgers: no matter how well I do my job, I have only one alternative to continuing to do my job regardless of what I think about the company: seek employment elsewhere.
The distinction is obvious:
I didn’t sign a contract … and if I did, I’d honor my word and do my job for the life of the contract.
If I wanted out? Easy. I breach with the knowledge there will be repercussions.
Players like Barry Sanders had infinitely more justification than Rodgers to pull this; yet he didn’t.
He suited up
He did his job (imo better than any RB)
He manned up and honored his word.
While I can appreciate your reasoning for sticking with a bad job to provide for your family or yourself (God knows all of us have done that), leaving a job for good reasons is a bad decision only if you cannot find another job.
Sanders retired rather than play for the Lions. He had four years left on his contract after signing a six year extension prior. He played ten years for Detroit, which is less than Rodgers has for Green Bay.
Sanders had similar justifications to Rodgers, if you want to compare it. He was faced with the same choice as Rodgers: retire or come back. Sanders chose to retire. Rodgers, ironically, is the one who is coming back to play. So that example of “honoring a contract” doesn’t actually work.
Well AK185….So #1, he has a current contract for this season and next so your comment about not being committed to keeping you when you are a 38 going to be 39 year old QB is incorrect, and #2 as far as bringing in someone to take your job, that is the world we all live in…but expectably in a performance driven game like all sports, do you expect the Packers to just fold once Rodgers retires….and wasn’t he in the same position as Love when Rodgers sat behind Farve who was still at the top of his game at an advanced age?
Finally, as far as having the “proper tools” well asking for $90 million guaranteed kind of puts how much money the team might have for other players into perspective now doesn’t it.
Rodgers has really polarized the Packers fan base and that can’t help the debate either.
When it really comes down, as George Young the GM of the Giants used to say “its always about the money”!
That previous contract you’re referring was not guaranteed. That’s the whole point. Now it is, for one year. Why should he trust them? It was obvious to all of us that they were moving on. They care more about setting up their next regime with Love than winning in the very good window that they have now with Rodgers, and he’s supposed to be a placeholder and like it. Sure, that’s the world we live in… but I guarantee you that you wouldn’t just roll over and take it.
It’s not like they’re bringing in a recognized world beater to take over. It’s just some guy. If Love was ready today, even the slightest bit, Green Bay would have dumped Rodgers and moved on. They didn’t. Now they want him to just hang out until the guy they actually committed to is ready, even though they could win with what they have. There’s one guy who I know is trying to win in Green Bay, and that’s Rodgers. That’s why I take his side so vehemently. I’m not convinced that Gutekunst is.
Ak185 – you do realize that NFL teams do draft players to replace other players on an as needed basis, right? Do you think Rodgers will play until he dies? I’m sorry you don’t understand how this works.
And why is it the player’s job to look out for the franchise who doesn’t do the same for him? Drafting a replacement is fine. It’s stupid when when you have a player who is still at the top of the league and a team that is on the edge of going to the Super Bowl.
Most packers fans are sick of hearing/reading about it too. However, 12 is back and we’re once again favorites to win the NFC north. Not that the competition is really that good.
…but next offseason, we’re gonna go right back over this again.
I will say the Pack are my favorite team of the NFC North as well. Good luck to you.
Those of you who keep referring to the MVP as a whiner or crybaby must be some of the worst negotiators on the planet. And the idea that any NFL player, great or not, shouldn’t maximize their leverage in a negotiation is idiotic. Especially when it sure appears ARod mostly just wants GB to win it all.
So negotiating his contract wasn’t enough? Now he has to negotiate to get out of that contract and bring in his favorite receiver? Being a whiner and not being satisfied with the millions he already has and signed his own name to, is what’s idiotic.
Exactly. Well done! You’re right it was not enough.
He also wants to win the Super Bowl again too. What a ridiculous idea hahaha
Continue to make excuses for the crybaby and pretend like he’s a good businessman all you want. He, like many other athletes, is upset and wants out of his contract. Generally it’s about money. With Erin it doesn’t seem to be. Regardless, he’s made a spectacle of himself, ultimately seems to be getting some variation of what he wanted and I can’t possibly hope any harder that he falls flat on his face this year.
NFL owners can literally negotiate and sign a player, then release them and pay them nothing. Where’s your outrage when the owners use their leverage? You reserve it all for the players because you’re jealous that he gets to play football and make millions while you’re here just talking about it with the rest of us riff raff.
Any time you find yourself about to criticize a player for a negotiating tactic, remember this: NFL contracts are a joke, and it’s the **owners** who want it this way. The players would love guaranteed contracts so none of this public negotiating every offseason would have to occur.
I’m jealous of a whiny baby? No. Good for him, sincerely that he has the tools and abilities to do the job he does. I think he’s a giant pu**y.
So you’re saying the ownership in GB wanted Erin to make a spectacle of this situation and be a whiner trying to get out of his contract, god forbid because they drafted his replacement knowing that one day they will have to move on from him.
Some of you people are so damn delusional.
You call people delusional and resort to name calling and nicknames to argue with them. You can dislike people or players all you like, but your argument is always just “I don’t like him, so he’s wrong.” Gutekunst screwed this up. Rodgers didn’t like it.
If Rodgers gets what he wants, the team gets better. I’m not even arguing that Rodgers ISN’T a baby. I’m saying that the baby is right and if Gutekunst actually WANTED to do the best thing he could for the franchise, he’d suck up the momentary embarrassment of “giving in” to improve the roster now and win the Superbowl. Rodgers would probably retire if he felt content and won one or two and then Gutekunst wouldn’t have to worry, while looking like a great GM. In any way you look at it, “giving in” makes everyone better off than they would have been, minus a short period of wounded pride.
My question. Why did it take 2 years for crybaby Rodgers to say he was upset about Love. Not a word during 2020 about it.
Because he was trying to win a Super Bowl which is really hard and didn’t want to be a disruption until there was time to work things out.
For starters, you’re wrong about it taking two years because Love was only drafted *one* year ago. Second, he’s never said anything publicly about Love, just the entire situation. Third, after Love was drafted, he was busy throwing for 4,300 yards, 48 TDs and leading his team to the NFC Championship game while being the league’s MVP. Not a lot of time to air out grievances.
Why not fire the GM and make Rodgers the QB and acting GM ? I would have let the crybaby Rodgers ferment and sit until he wants to honor his contract!
And I want: Randall Cobb back, No salary cap so players can’t get cut, I don’t want youth injected in the team to ensure stability over the long haul, I want people to respect my feelings, I want you to forget my current signed contract and give me a new one everytime a different player gets more money than me, I want a snow cone maker on the sidelines during games and I’ll think of more as I see what anyone else has that I don’t!