The New York Jets are going all-in with their plan this offseason.
According to NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, veteran wide receiver Randall Cobb’s going to New York “probably will happen” if Aaron Rodgers does, too, which they said they also expect to happen.
The Jets already are pursuing another Packers receiver, Allen Lazard, according to March 14 reports from Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who went as far as saying New York was “closing in on a deal” with Lazard. Schefter also tweeted that the Jets were interested in tight end Marcedes Lewis, who also played in Green Bay.
Each pass catcher represents a bread crumb on a trail that Jets fans hope leads to the team trading for Rodgers, who, according to a March 14 CBS Sports story, has “narrowed his options to three possibilities: returning to the Packers, ordering a trade to the Jets or hanging up the cleats for good.”
Randall Cobb Has Played 10 Seasons With Aaron Rodgers
Cobb, who will turn 33 in August, has spent 10 combined seasons with Rodgers during two separate stints with the Packers and is a close friend of Rodgers.
In his lone Pro Bowl season, 2014, Cobb caught 12 touchdown passes and had 1,287 receiving yards. Since then, he’s never had more than 829 yards or more than 6 touchdowns. In 2022, he appeared in 13 games (starting in one of them), scoring a touchdown and amassing 417 yards. In his career, which includes one season each with the Dallas Cowboys (2019) and Houston Texans (2020), has caught 625 passes for 7,585 passing yards with 53 touchdowns.
He played on a $3 million contract in 2022.
New Details on Jets’ Pursuit of Allen Lazard
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport said the Jets are “working on a deal” with Packers wideout Allen Lazard in free agency.
Initially, the Jets and an unidentified team were pursuing Lazard, a 27-year-old free agent, but for now “it seems to be all Jets for Lazard,” according to Rapoport.
Andrew Brandt, a longtime Packers executive, said on Twitter that “the Jets were doing things for Aaron that the Packers have done in recent years and are no longer willing to do.”
Brandt did not specify what those “things for Aaron” are, but if acquiring some of Rodgers’ teammates makes New York seem more appealing to him, the Jets appear willing to do whatever it takes to lock in a deal. Rodgers said in early March that a decision on his future would be coming soon.
According to reports, it sounds like the remaining trade issues involve the Jets doing things for Aaron that the Packers have done in recent years, and are no longer willing to do.
Why would the Jets suddenly be in on Lazard in free agency? Now some bubbling rumors about a potential Cobb addition as well.
Both players are talented and would make sense for any team, but it would be a pretty odd coincidence if these moves had nothing to do with the potential arrival of a certain four-time NFL MVP.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano said as much on Twitter, “there is no equivalent tweet to explain a 2023 pursuit of Randall Cobb. There can be one and only one reason for that.”
He didn’t say what he meant, but we can all connect the dots. Every day it is looking more and more like Rodgers will be following in the footsteps of his predecessor Brett Favre via a trade to the Jets.
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Jets Eyeing Pro Bowl Pass Catcher; ‘Probably Will Happen’: Report