MONDAY, 4:44pm: The Packers have officially announced Cobb’s new deal.
SATURDAY, 9:29pm: The Packers will keep one of their big-name free agents off the market. Randall Cobb agreed to a four-year, $40MM deal to stay in Green Bay, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted.
Cobb, who doesn’t turn 25 until August, was one of the top players on the market and will return to Green Bay to pair with Jordy Nelson, who makes just less than $10MM per year.
A slot receiver who posted career-high numbers across the board in his contract year, Cobb reportedly had six or seven offers and turned down more money to stay with the Packers, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter. This is the second contract in less than nine months the Packers have offered to keep one of their own. Nelson signed a $39MM deal last July and teamed with Cobb to give Aaron Rodgers a dynamic wideout duo that helped the Packers return to the NFC title game.
Cobb rated No. 3 on PFR’s top 50 free agents list and was reportedly seeking $12MM per year, and this deal may determine the value of this year’s wideout crop. Jeremy Maclin and Torrey Smith now slide up the board for wide receiver-desperate teams. Nelson and Cobb took priority for the Packers, who let Greg Jennings and James Jones leave in the past two offseasons, respectively.
The 5-foot-10 former second-round pick from Kentucky notched his first season of 1,000+ yards last year, re-establishing his value after missing 10 games due to a broken leg in 2013. Since entering the league in 2011, Cobb’s caught 75.2% of his targets — tops in the NFL in that span, per ESPN.
The Packers will have around $22MM in cap space with right tackle Bryan Bulaga set to hit free agency in less than three days.