1) Introduction: In the first game of his NFL career last season, Randall Cobb burst onto the scene with two touchdowns against the New Orleans Saints. He proved to be a dynamic kick returner with seemingly limitless potential. But with wide receiver being one of the Packers’ deepest positions, it was unknown just how many opportunities Cobb would get to prove his worth.
2) Profile:
Randall Ladonald Cobb II
- Age: 22
- Born: 08/22/1990, in Maryville, TN
- Height: 5’10”
- Weight: 192
- College: Kentucky
- Rookie Year: 2011
- NFL Experience: 2 years
3) Expectations coming into the season: Last summer, Cobb was clearly behind Jennings and Nelson in the pecking order at wide receiver. But it became evident early in training camp that the Packers had big plans for the second-year player. Cobb lined up inside, outside and even in the backfield, in hopes of getting him into the open field more often. But still, playing behind Jennings
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Cobb led the team with 80 catches and 954 receiving yards this season and likely would have surpassed 1,000 if he hadn’t missed the Packers’ week 17 game at Minnesota. He caught at least six passes in eight out of the 15 games he played, with his biggest game coming at Minnesota in week 15. Against the Bears, Cobb racked up 115 yards on six catches, helping the Packers win the NFC North title. His least effective game of the season was in week three at Seattle, in which he caught just one pass for a one-yard loss.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Jones was the biggest success story among the wide receivers, but Cobb was probably the most crucial to the team’s overall success. With Jennings out of the lineup for half the season, Cobb emerged as the team’s go-to playmaker in the slot. On top of Cobb making plays as a wide receiver, he averaged 13.2 yards on ten carries in the regular season.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: After suffering an ankle injury in week 16, Cobb missed the regular-season finale and didn’t make a significant impact in the playoffs. Cobb was targeted just twice against the Vikings, catching one pass for seven yards. The San Francisco 49ers game-planned to stop Cobb and held him to just 26 yards on five catches.
Season Report Card:
(A) Level of expectations met during the season
(A) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(C) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: A-
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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.
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I’d give him a D for the playoffs and drop his overall grade to a B. He was important during the season, but disappeared in the playoffs. Thats should show more in the grades IMO.
Gotta give Cobb some slack for the playoffs. The ankle injury that slowed him was due to an MM mistake. Returning punts in a game that was realistically over is not his fault.
Looking forward to a big year next season by the O. And Cobb will be a big part of it.
Returns is another reason his grade should be lower. He was supposed to provide a dynamic returns and he didn’t. He may have exceeded as a wr but underachieved in returns. He WAS drafted as much for returns as offense.
Cobb is an easy A. Over 80 catches in only his second season, leading the team and smoothly took over the role as AR’s favorite target. He needs to cut down on his drops—maybe that makes it A-.
Too many drops and not enough on returns. He was supposed to provide dynamic returns and last year he did’t, and thats a large part of why he was drafted. Definitely underachieved on ST, but exceeded on Offense.
An “A” is very deserving. Everytime he caught the ball he made something happen. He had a few drops, but overall his play at WR was really good. That and Rodgers trusts him, even in big situations. That also tells me something. Hopefully, they will keep him off ST’s, as good as he is, he’s more important to the offense.