Cobb Out Indefinitely with ‘Significant’ Injury
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers receiver Randall Cobb sustained a core-muscle injury during the first half of the game against the Los Angeles Rams before the bye and is out indefinitely.
“Cobby’s going to out for a while. He had a pretty significant injury,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice.
According to ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky, Cobb had surgery last week.
His absence will be felt by a team fighting for playoff positioning. Brought back at the start of training camp at the urging of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Cobb is third on the team with 28 receptions, second with 375 receiving yards and tied for first with five receiving touchdowns.
Cobb has caught 28-of-39 targets and generally delivered when the Packers needed him. In a key game against the Rams, he provided a big chunk of the first-half offense by catching 4-of-5 balls for 95 yards and one touchdown. He scored two touchdowns apiece against Pittsburgh and Arizona, the latter coming with Davante Adams, Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling out of the lineup.
“That’s unfortunate because I thought he has done such an amazing job when given the opportunity,” LaFleur said. “We were talking about just his targets on third down alone. He was 8-of-10 when he got targeted of converting first downs, and that’s just in the normal field.”
The Packers didn’t have a true slot receiver last year yet still led the NFL in scoring. According to Pro Football Focus, Adams finished eighth in the NFL with 48 slot receptions and second with seven slot touchdowns last year. Even this year, it’s Adams who leads the team from the slot with 37 receptions for 414 yards.
It will be all hands on deck in filling that production, including more playing time for third-round rookie Amari Rodgers.
“It’s truly everybody, and that can change on a weekly basis,” LaFleur said of picking up the slack. “We’ll use Allen in there a little bit. EQ (Equanimeous St. Brown has) been playing really well as of late, not only on offense but on special teams, as well, and we’ll continue to move Davante around and put him in there a little bit. But as far as Amari’s concerned, he’s a younger player and he’s still growing and he’s going to get better. We’ve got a lot of high expectations for him to continue to grow and develop, and I do think he’ll get more opportunity.”
The Packers have ample history with core-muscle injuries. Last season, receiver Allen Lazard suffered one at the end of his monster game at New Orleans. Lazard had surgery and was out seven weeks before returning to the lineup, but didn’t have an impact game for nearly three months.
In 2018, receiver Geronimo Allison missed the second half of the season following core-muscle surgery. In 2016, cornerback Damarious Randall had core-muscle surgery, missed five games and never got back to form. In 2012, receiver Greg Jennings had core-muscle surgery and was on the field almost exactly one month later.
Surgery isn’t always a necessity. Odell Beckham Jr., for instance, played through a core-muscle injury throughout the 2019 season with Cleveland before having surgery.
Cobb, who turned 31 during training camp, was acquired by the Packers for a sixth-round draft pick. He missed six games last season with Houston and seven games with Green Bay in 2018.
