Aaron Rodgers’s Favorite Receiver Is Also the Jets’ Messenger

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 buddy 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 mentioned he had preplanned to publish the video to showcase his well being as groups seemed to spherical out their rosters.

However, Cobb mentioned, different gamers teased him for the timing of the publish as a result of it appeared to sign that he needed to affix Rodgers with out blatantly saying so.

“It simply occurred to be on the identical day,” Cobb, smiling, mentioned 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 easy methods to preserve him joyful.

That worth was on show in a latest episode of “Laborious 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 mentioned. “If he don’t belief you — he don’t like throwing interceptions — so if he can’t belief that you just’re going to run the suitable route, he’s not going to throw it.”

“How he communicates to these guys has been superb for them in that room,” mentioned 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 taking part in for us is nice.”

There are few individuals who know Rodgers higher on and off the sphere. 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 considered one of his two youngsters.

Cobb and Allen Lazard, 27, one other former Packers receiver, are anticipated to play complementary roles within the Jets’ offense, whose success will depend 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 mentioned he might act as an middleman and assist teammates modify to their new quarterback’s persona and tendencies.

“I attempt to be the bridge of communication,” Cobb mentioned. “We’re all visible and audio learners, and simply with the ability to see if a man wants assist, you may assist them perceive it differently.”

Cobb mentioned 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 position in it. For instance, on a purpose line play final December, the rookie Christian Watson missed a hand sign from Rodgers, ran the mistaken route and missed out on a straightforward landing reception towards the Los Angeles Rams. Cobb mentioned receivers earn Rodgers’s favor by being in the suitable place on the proper time.

“He’s simply very detail-oriented,” Cobb mentioned. “He does an amazing job of taking good care of 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 mentioned 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 mentioned Rodgers has been talkative and approachable, however he additionally welcomed studying from Cobb.

“I’ve simply been attempting to take every part I can from Randall,” Wilson mentioned Friday in a information convention. “He’s a perfectionist relating to every part off the sphere.”

Having Cobb round has additionally been a boon to Rodgers in different areas. Enjoying 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 sport with cornerback Sauce Gardner from courtside seats in Could.

Cobb mentioned the vibrancy and bustle of taking part in for the Jets provided a unique expertise than Rodgers had been uncovered to throughout the soccer season. After Packers video games, as an example, Cobb mentioned 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 just think about in your thoughts,” Cobb mentioned of dwelling in Inexperienced Bay, Wis. “I feel that he’s capable of dwell and revel in life with a unique perspective that he hasn’t had in his profession but.”