Jets planning to sign WR Randall Cobb

The Rodgers wish list already led to Allen Lazard coming to the Big Apple. Lazard joined the Jets weeks before Rodgers, but ex-Cobb teammate’s $11M-per-year deal provided a strong indication the four-time MVP would eventually join the team.

Counting the playoffs, Davante Adams‘ 687 receptions are the most by a Rodgers target (per ESPN Stats and Info). Cobb’s 534 grabs sit second on that list. The former Packers second-round pick developed a quick chemistry with the future Hall of Fame quarterback, and while Cobb’s second Green Bay stay did not produce the numbers his first did, he will join Lazard in bringing scheme familiarity to the Jets. Cobb spent the past two seasons in the offense OC Nathaniel Hackett is installing.

Despite missing four games last season, Cobb caught 34 passes for 417 yards and a touchdown. The proven slot receiver scored five TDs during his 2021 season. 

The Packers gave Cobb a four-year, $40M contract in 2015, which came after his lone 1,000-yard campaign. Cobb played out that contract before the team allowed him to sign with the Cowboys in free agency. He spent the 2019 and ’20 seasons in Texas, joining Houston on a three-year, $27M deal in 2020. The Packers acquired that deal in 2021 but reached a pay-cut agreement with Cobb last year. While this expected deal comes after the deadline for signings to affect the 2024 compensatory formula, Cobb is unlikely to sign a needle-moving contract with the Jets.

This could complete the Jets’ wide receiver overhaul effort. Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson is back and the team has added Lazard and Mecole Hardman. Elijah Moore is now in Cleveland, via trade, while the team released slot player/return man Braxton Berrios, who is now in Miami. Although rumblings tied the Jets to a Corey Davis release, the former top-five pick remains with the team. Ditto Denzel Mims, who has stood as a longtime trade candidate.

Jets GM Joe Douglas reaffirmed Davis’ status with the team ahead of the draft, and the team did not select any wideouts. The seventh-year veteran certainly supplies potential firepower as a complementary option. The team’s three-year, $37.5M Davis pact has not produced numbers on par with the former top prospect’s Titans work, but Davis and Cobb have nine combined 600-plus-yard receiving seasons on their respective resumes. This Cobb agreement floods the Jets’ receiver room with experience, and it will be interesting to see if it affects Davis, who is tied to an $11.2M cap hit in the final year of his contract.