Randall Cobb cried when he got in his car en route to the airport in Texas on Wednesday. That’s how happy he was to return to the team that drafted him and the one for which he played the first eight seasons of his career from 2011-18.
“My wife was sitting there with me. She was crying, too,” Cobb said after his first practice back with the Packers on Thursday, “because I think she was more excited than I am to be back. We love this place. We love this city. It’s a special place.”
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The Packers struck a deal with the Texans to reportedly send a sixth-round pick to Houston for Cobb this week, adding their last true slot receiver and someone who’s caught 44 touchdowns from Aaron Rodgers in his career to an offense that led the NFL in points per game last season. Cobb has spent the last two seasons with the Cowboys and Texans, tallying 93 catches for 1,269 yards and six touchdowns in 25 games over that span.
This move wasn’t the idea of general manager Brian Gutekunst, though. He already drafted a slot receiver this year in Clemson’s Amari Rodgers in the third round. Cobb is a Packer because of one of his best friends, the reigning NFL MVP who specifically requested the Packers trade for Cobb.
“Obviously, without Aaron, I don’t think we would probably be pursuing that, but he’s still a really good player,” Gutekunst said. “Seeing (Cobb) last night just kind of reminded me of what kind of impact he’ll have in our locker room for our football team. This is a very important thing for Aaron and that’s why we did it.”
How does Cobb feel hearing that?
“About the same way it made me feel when I signed with Dallas and I was waiting, hoping for another opportunity to come back,” he said. “That didn’t happen, but we’re here, and I’m back. That’s in the past. It’s about today, it’s about moving forward, it’s about being the best that we can be today for this team and try to find a way to win a championship.”
Rodgers and Cobb have wanted to reunite for a while. They didn’t know how or when it would happen, but they held out hope it would. Rodgers stood at Cobb’s wedding. They attend the Kentucky Derby together. They consider each other family.
Cobb is 30, and though he arrives in Green Bay with an injury history, he brings a knowledge of how Rodgers plays, what the quarterback wants in a slot receiver and how to share a field with the likes of Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Aaron Jones, David Bakhtiari and others.
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“Those guys have a lot of time on task together,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Rodgers and Cobb. “They know each other well. I think his learning curve will be expedited because he’s going to know all the little intricacies of Aaron. Those guys have such a connection, just like Davante, and I think a lot of our receivers now, being a couple years in this thing together where sometimes Aaron might just give you a look and you know what he’s thinking.”
Cobb jogged out to practice with Adams’ arm around him, the Packers’ No. 1 receiver skipping alongside like a kid on Christmas morning after receiving the gift he’s always wanted. The two played catch before practice (fun fact, both of them are left-handed), just like old times. When Cobb caught his first pass from Rodgers during routes on air, the crowd welcomed him back with a loud cheer as he pranced downfield.
Davante Adams and Randall Cobb playing catch before practice, just like old times pic.twitter.com/t7dwD8pwin
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) July 29, 2021
Cobb wouldn’t take credit for Rodgers returning to Green Bay, though the Packers trading for one of the quarterback’s best friends and most productive teammates ever couldn’t have hurt (Cobb caught 470 passes for 5,524 yards and 41 touchdowns in 105 regular-season games with the Packers and had 47 catches for 596 yards and five touchdowns in 11 playoff games).
When Rodgers and Cobb spoke this offseason, Rodgers seriously considered retirement. Cobb’s love for the game had waned, too. They continued talking, eventually realizing how much they had left to give, hoping it would be together, wearing the same uniform.
“Honestly, I’m so happy because for Aaron, he gets one of his best friends back, and it’s just like a morale booster for him, just with obviously what’s going on, and I think Randall just is a key piece,” said tight end Robert Tonyan, who was teammates with Cobb in 2017 and ’18. “He’s a great leader. He’s a veteran. Everyone in the Packers organization knows who he is and everyone coming in, even if they’re young, they know who Randall Cobb is, so that’s the big thing is he has a lot of weight to his name.”
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“It’s amazing,” Jones said. ” … My first two years I was here with Randall and he’s a great leader, so I’m definitely happy to have him back. He can teach me a few things out there in the slot and different things like that as well. I’m happy to learn from him, and we’ve got another playmaker, so I’m extremely happy to have him back.”
“I’m ecstatic, man,” Adams said. ” … He’s got a lot left in the tank, back healthy from last year and just if nothing else, the veteran leadership in that room … hope he’s back next to me at my locker. He’s one of my best friends.”
The other intriguing angle to Cobb’s return involves another Rodgers, one he’s known for longer than Aaron.
When Cobb attended Kentucky, his position coach was Tee Martin, the former University of Tennessee quarterback who succeeded Peyton Manning and won a national title. Martin’s son? Amari Rodgers.
“I hope that I can be what Greg Jennings and Donald Driver and those guys were for me,” Cobb said. “That’s the approach that I’ve taken. I walked in here, I’m going to give him every tool that was given to me and we’ll see what happens with him.”
Cobb said he’s known Amari Rodgers since he was running around Kentucky’s locker room and participating in college wide receiver drills with the Wildcats before he was a teenager. Sure, Cobb might take snaps from him because they’re both slot receivers, but two dangerous gadget pieces on offense is better than one. And rest assured, the rookie is ecstatic to have someone he’s studied and admired for so long in the same locker room as him. Cobb said he’ll even use Rodgers to get him up to speed on the Packers’ offense. How about that for full circle?
“He’s really smart,” Cobb said. “When they were running plays today, he would come back and I would ask him, ‘Hey what do you have on this?’ and he’s telling me right now. He’s helping get me up to speed. It’s a two-way street. There’s a lot that I have to learn from him, and that’s another reason I’m excited, because there’s some things that he does really well with his releases and his route running, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to watch him and be able to learn from him as well.”
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The lasting image of Cobb’s first run in a Packers uniform came from the lens of legendary Packers team photographer Evan Siegle (the second photo in Rodgers’ slideshow Instagram post below from March 2019). It showed Rodgers hugging Cobb, who was in tears, during a 31-0 loss to the Lions at Lambeau Field to end the 2018 season.
The emotion of the prior eight years hit Cobb all at once. He felt it was his last game with the Packers because they had drafted three wideouts that year, coupled with his injury riddled season that, in part, stemmed from trying to force his way back on the field.
“That’s the part of it that you see and just the contrast now,” Cobb said, “You see a smile on my face.”
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When Cobb entered the media auditorium inside Lambeau Field on Wednesday, he stopped, raised his arms at his side and a smile spread across his face.
“Ah, my people!” he said to the reporters present, many of whom covered Cobb’s first run in Green Bay. “I missed you all.”
“How are you?” one asked.
“Better now,” Cobb responded.
He made it clear he wasn’t trashing the Texans, but compared them to a start-up business and the Packers to a Fortune 500 company.
“I can breathe again,” Cobb said, the tears of December 2018 long gone. “I’ve seen the other side, and I’m excited to be back here … I’m smiling. It’s funny, my teammates said, ‘You act like you just got out of prison,’ and I said, ‘Well, you know …’ I’m very very excited to be here.”
(Photo: Mark Hoffman / USA Today)
