On the day the Jets traded for quarterback Aaron Rodgers in April, Randall Cobb posted a exercise video to Instagram.
Cobb, a receiver, had spent 10 of his 12 N.F.L. seasons as Rodgers’s teammate and shut pal with the Inexperienced Bay Packers, however was by then a free agent recovering from surgical procedure on his proper ankle to clear bone spurs. Cobb stated he had preplanned to publish the video to showcase his well being as groups appeared to spherical out their rosters.
However, Cobb stated, different gamers teased him for the timing of the submit as a result of it appeared to sign that he wished to hitch Rodgers with out blatantly saying so.
“It simply occurred to be on the identical day,” Cobb, smiling, stated in an interview final week at his locker within the Jets’ follow facility.
Cobb, 33, had been contemplating retirement when the Jets signed him to a one-year contract simply over per week after the Rodgers commerce, and after the quarterback had recruited him. Reunited in New Jersey, Cobb has been a gauge of Rodgers’s moods and a messenger to Jets teammates for the right way to maintain him completely satisfied.
That worth was on show in a latest episode of “Exhausting Knocks,” the HBO documentary collection, as Cobb huddled the Jets’ receivers after a poor follow and warned the group that Rodgers wouldn’t tolerate continued errors.
“If he don’t belief you, he’s not going to throw you the ball, I can promise you that,” Cobb stated. “If he don’t belief you — he don’t like throwing interceptions — so if he can’t belief that you simply’re going to run the proper route, he’s not going to throw it.”
“How he communicates to these guys has been superb for them in that room,” stated Nathaniel Hackett, the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Hackett held the identical place for 3 seasons with the Packers, the place he coached Cobb and Rodgers in 2021. “I feel they’re solely going to get higher, simply with him being in there and the truth that we get to have him on the market enjoying for us is nice.”
There are few individuals who know Rodgers higher on and off the sector. Cobb has lengthy been one of many quarterback’s most trusted passing choices, often catching tosses out of the slot place. Rodgers was a groomsman at Cobb’s marriage ceremony in 2017 and is godfather to one in all his two kids.
Cobb and Allen Lazard, 27, one other former Packers receiver, are anticipated to play complementary roles within the Jets’ offense, whose success will rely upon the event of receiver Garrett Wilson, 23, final season’s offensive rookie of the yr, and Mecole Hardman, 25, a free-agent addition who spent his first 4 N.F.L. seasons with Kansas Metropolis. Cobb stated he might act as an middleman and assist teammates alter to their new quarterback’s persona and tendencies.
“I attempt to be the bridge of communication,” Cobb stated. “We’re all visible and audio learners, and simply having the ability to see if a man wants assist, you’ll be able to assist them perceive it otherwise.”
Cobb stated he has tried to evangelise to the receiving corps the significance of nonverbal communication earlier than the snap, and emphasised that they need to perceive every part of a play as a substitute of simply their function in it. For instance, on a purpose line play final December, the rookie Christian Watson missed a hand sign from Rodgers, ran the fallacious route and missed out on a straightforward landing reception towards the Los Angeles Rams. Cobb stated receivers earn Rodgers’s favor by being in the proper place on the proper time.
“He’s simply very detail-oriented,” Cobb stated. “He does an incredible job of caring for the ball, and if we’re not on the identical web page, that may result in two interceptions and places us behind the eight ball and an opportunity to win the sport.”
Rodgers, although, has labored to type connections with teammates with out Cobb’s direct assist. He stated in July that he ate lunch at completely different tables all through the week in order to not sit with the identical gamers, including that he visited completely different areas of follow when he was not taking reps to familiarize himself with completely different place teams. Wilson stated Rodgers has been talkative and approachable, however he additionally welcomed studying from Cobb.
“I’ve simply been making an attempt to take every little thing I can from Randall,” Wilson stated Friday in a information convention. “He’s a perfectionist with regards to every little thing off the sector.”
Having Cobb round has additionally been a boon to Rodgers in different areas. Taking part in collectively in a brand new metropolis, the pair, together with different teammates, have been intentional about bonding at social occasions. Final week, Cobb, Rodgers and tight finish C.J. Uzomah attended a tennis match on the U.S. Open, and the three have gone with different teammates to Broadway exhibits.
Rodgers and Uzomah attended the Tony Awards in June, and the quarterback watched a Knicks playoff recreation with cornerback Sauce Gardner from courtside seats in Might.
Cobb stated the vibrancy and bustle of enjoying for the Jets provided a distinct expertise than Rodgers had been uncovered to through the soccer season. After Packers video games, for example, Cobb stated he and his household would usually order pizza as a result of most different eating places had been closed. Not so within the New York metropolitan space.
“It’s not just like the N.F.L. life that you simply think about in your thoughts,” Cobb stated of residing in Inexperienced Bay, Wis. “I feel that he’s in a position to stay and luxuriate in life with a distinct perspective that he hasn’t had in his profession but.”
