Randall Cobb (American football)
Randall Ladonald Cobb II (born August 22, 1990) is an American football wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Kentucky, and was selected by the Packers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He also played one season each for the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans. Early life. Cobb was born to Randall Cobb Sr. and Tina Cobb. Randall Sr. worked at the Denso car parts factory in Maryville, Tennessee and also worked side jobs in the evenings, ranging from installing ceramic tile  floors to mowing lawns and plowing snow, with young Randall II helping. Tina, who was a track star in high school, later worked at Denso, where she met Randall Sr. High school career. Cobb attended Alcoa High School in Alcoa, Tennessee, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. His football team was a four-time State Champion in Class AA and Cobb received a "Mr. Football" trophy from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. At that time, he played both offense and defense as well as special teams but made his biggest impact as quarterback for the  Tornadoes. He was an All-District basketball player as a junior, playing for Micah Marsh. Cobb was also a track star at Alcoa. He was a four-year member of the track team, competing in sprints along with the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m squads. He finished third in the state meet in the 100-meter dash his senior year, recording a career-best time of 10.75 seconds. He was clocked at 21.89 seconds in the 200-meter dash at age 16. He also helped lead the Alcoa 4 × 100 m relay squad to a  second-place finish in the state meet as a junior. College career. Cobb played college football for the University of Kentucky. Although Maryville is only 20 minutes from downtown Knoxville, the University of Tennessee Volunteers were not able to sign Randall. During his first year, under head coach Rich Brooks, he was named to the SEC All-Freshmen team at quarterback, playing in 11 games and starting four at quarterback. He accounted for 11 touchdowns as a freshman – two passing, two receiving, and seven rushing. In his sophomore season, he played mainly wide receiver as well as a significant role  in the offense/special teams returning kicks, place kick holding, receiving, and also quarterback in the "Wildcat" formation. He scored 15 touchdowns – four receiving, one returning, and ten rushing during the 2009 season. In his junior season, Cobb had a new head coach in Joker Phillips, who said "He's one of the best leaders I've ever been around." He scored a touchdown on a punt return against Western Kentucky.On October 9, 2010, Cobb scored four touchdowns against undefeated Auburn, tying the Kentucky school record for career touchdowns at 32. He was also the first player to score  a rushing, passing, and receiving touchdown in the same game for Kentucky since Shane Boyd in 2003. Overall, in his junior season, he finished with 1,017 receiving yards, seven receiving touchdowns, 424 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns, 58 passing yards, and three passing touchdowns. After his junior season, he declared for the NFL Draft. While at Kentucky, Cobb majored in Community Communications and Leadership development. Professional career. Green Bay Packers. The Green Bay Packers selected Cobb in the second round (64th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft. Cobb was the seventh wide receiver drafted in 2011. 2011 season. On July  29, 2011, the Green Bay Packers signed Cobb to a four-year, $3.20 million contract that included $1 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $834,124. On September 8, 2011, in the Packers' opening game of the season against the New Orleans Saints, Cobb became the first person born in the 1990s to play in the NFL. Cobb recorded his first NFL touchdown on a 32-yard reception in the first quarter, and followed up with a 108-yard kickoff return in the third quarter that tied the record set by Ellis Hobbs of the New England  Patriots in 2007 for longest kickoff return in NFL history. The return was later named Play of the Year at the season-ending NFL Honors banquet. In a "Monday Night Football" game against the Minnesota Vikings on November 14, Cobb scored his second special teams touchdown of the year on an 80-yard punt return in the first quarter. With that, Cobb became the first rookie in Packers history to return both a kick and a punt for a touchdown in the same season. For the season, he caught 25 passes for 375 yards (a 15.0 average) and one touchdown . His most impressive statistics were on special teams, as he returned 34 kicks for 941 yards (a 27.7 average) and one touchdown and 26 punt returns for 295 yards (an 11.3 average) and one touchdown. 2012 season. In 2012, Cobb played in 15 games including eight starts. He led the team in receptions with 80 and receiving yards with 954 and was second on the team with eight touchdowns. He set a single-season franchise record with 2,342 combined net yards—954 receiving, 132 rushing, 964 on kickoff returns (a 25.4 average), and 292 on punt returns (a 9.4 average) including  one touchdown. He also led the NFL in that category. He was named a Pro Bowl first alternate as a kick returner. 2013 season. In 2013, Cobb was limited to six games (including four starts) due to a broken fibula injury suffered in Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens. Up until his injury, which kept him on the sidelines until the season's final game, he led the Packers with 29 receptions and was second in receiving yards with 378. He also rushed four times for 78 yards, a 19.5 average. He returned to play in the regular season finale  against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. He caught a memorable 48-yard game-winning touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers late in the fourth quarter to win the NFC North title for the Packers. 2014 season. Cobb was on pace for personal bests through the first 10 games of the 2014 season, with 54 receptions for 779 yards (a 14.4 average) and an already career-high (and league-leading) 10 touchdown receptions from Aaron Rodgers, including at least one touchdown in eight of 10 games. In the Packers' 10th game, he had season-highs with 10 receptions and 129 receiving  yards against the Philadelphia Eagles. On January 19, Cobb was named as a replacement for Dez Bryant in the Pro Bowl. He had one reception for nine yards in the game. Cobb finished the season with 91 receptions on 126 targets for 1,287 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was ranked as the 100th best player in the NFL by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2014. 2015 season. On March 7, 2015, the Green Bay Packers signed Cobb to a four-year, $40 million contract with a signing bonus of $13 million. After signing  the deal, Cobb explained his thought process. "At the end of the day, my heart was in Green Bay, and I knew that's where I wanted to be. I knew I had a good thing going for me, and still I signed a pretty lucrative deal that I can handle as far as making that last for the rest of my life." Cobb also mentioned that the NFC Championship loss to the Seattle Seahawks still bothered him. "Obviously, that loss still hurts. It still feels fresh. I want to win a championship, and we were right there. We were  close. We didn't do what we needed to do to win, but we have a lot of the guys coming back this year, same guys. A lot of our core guys, and we believe that puts us in the mix. So we have to handle business this offseason as far as continuing to get better on a daily basis. Obviously, next season, we have to put ourselves in position to go on a run." In 2015, Cobb had one of his best seasons as teammate Jordy Nelson went down with an ACL in the preseason, posting only six touchdowns . On December 3, during the "Miracle in Motown" win, Cobb recovered a James Starks fumble to give the Packers their first touchdown of the game to make the score 20–7 in favor of the Detroit Lions. The Packers would win 27–23 after a Rodgers to Rodgers Hail Mary. Cobb finished the season with 79 receptions on a career-high 129 targets for 829 yards and six touchdowns. Cobb's 448 yards after the catch ranked eighth among NFL wide receivers in 2015. 2016 season. On September 16, 2016, Cobb was fined $9,115 for pulling the face mask of linebacker  Paul Posluszny in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cobb finished the season with 60 receptions on 84 targets for 610 yards and four touchdowns. In the against the New York Giants, Cobb had five receptions for 116 yards and three touchdowns, including catching a 42-yard Hail Mary from Aaron Rodgers at the end of the second quarter. 2017 season. In the 2017 season, Cobb finished with 66 receptions for 653 yards and four touchdowns despite losing starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. For the first time in his professional career, the Packers finished with a 7–9 record and did not  make the playoffs. 2018 season. On September 9, 2018, Cobb caught nine passes for 142 yards and a touchdown in the season-opener against the Chicago Bears. He recorded a career-long 75-yard touchdown reception late in the fourth quarter to give the Packers the go-ahead score in the 24–23 victory. This game marked his 15th career game with at least 100 receiving yards. After two games with four receptions each, Cobb suffered a hamstring injury and missed the next five weeks, appearing for limited duty in Week 8 and Week 9 (for a total of nine receptions ). Overall, he finished the 2018 season with 38 receptions for 383 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. Dallas Cowboys. On March 19, 2019, the Dallas Cowboys signed Cobb to a one-year, $5 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $2 million, to be the team's slot wide receiver. Cobb caught his first touchdown with the Cowboys in the first week of the 2019 season with 9:48 left in the third quarter in their home opener against the New York Giants. Cobb finished the game with four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown in the  35–17 win. In Week 10 against the Minnesota Vikings on "Sunday Night Football", Cobb caught six passes for 106 yards and a touchdown in the 28–24 loss. During Week 11 against the Detroit Lions, Cobb finished with four receptions for 115 receiving yards and a touchdown as the Cowboys won 35–27. Overall, Cobb finished with 55 receptions for 828 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. Houston Texans. On April 1, 2020, the Houston Texans signed Cobb to a three-year, $27 million contract that includes $18 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $6 million. He was  brought to be the team's slot wide receiver and help the team offset the loss of DeAndre Hopkins. In Week 3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cobb caught 4 passes for 95 yards and his first touchdown reception as a Texan during the 28–21 loss. In Week 7 against his former team, the Green Bay Packers, Cobb recorded 8 catches for 95 yards during the 35–20 loss. He was placed on injured reserve on November 25, 2020, after suffering a toe injury in Week 11. Green Bay Packers (second stint). On July 28, 2021, the Green Bay Packers traded for  Cobb at the request of his close friend and former teammate, quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Houston traded the rights to Cobb, and most of his salary obligations to the Packers in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick. He sustained an injury on a touchdown catch during a Week 12 win over the Los Angeles Rams, and was deemed questionable to return to the game. He was placed on injured reserve on December 11. Head coach Matt LaFleur announced on January 19 that he had been cleared to return for the Packers' Divisional Round playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers  where they lost in a last second field goal.