The Green Bay Packers are doing something to address one of their many needs. Their biggest one, in fact. The Packers will reportedly sign free agent tight end Jared Cook.
The #Packers are on the board: I'm told TE Jared Cook was spotted in Green Bay, set to sign with the Packers. Their big area of need.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 28, 2016
The Packers brought Cook — who was released by the Rams in February — in for a visit two weeks ago. All indications are it was Cook’s only visit since becoming a free agent.
Then the Packers did what they usually do in free agency.
Nothing.
That was obviously a ploy to drive Cook’s price down. The Packers have been preaching patience in free agency since the offseason began, noting multiple times how they wouldn’t overpay for anyone (except their own free agents, obviously).
Cook received a one-year deal for $3.6 million.
Beyond that, the move shores up the Packers’ weakest position entering the offseason.
The team’s top returning tight end, Richard Rodgers, caught 58 passes for 510 yards and eight touchdowns in 2015. His 8.8 yards per reception tell the story there.
Rodgers couldn’t create separation from a defender if that defender were a rock.
Cook had 39 catches for 481 yards in 2015, while playing with a revolving cast of quarterbacks in St. Louis that included Nick Foles and Case Keenun.
What Cook brings to the Packers is a tight end who can stretch the middle of the field. Drops have been a problem — Cook had 10 in 2015. However, he gives the Packers a fast, athletic target to compliment Rodgers, who is the exact opposite (sure-handed, but slow as molasses in January).
Second-year player Kennard Backman, Long Hair, Don’t Care AKA Justin Perillo and Mitchell Henry, who spent most of 2015 on the practice squad, will round out the Packers’ tight end group entering camp.
The signing likely signals the end of Andrew Quarless’ time with the Packers, which we’re real broken up about. Quarless is a free agent and isn’t expected to return.
Finally, it’s important to note that Cook doesn’t hurt the Packers in the compensatory pick department. Since he was released by the Rams, he’s not technically an unrestricted free agent. Thus, the Packers are very likely to come out on the plus side in the free agents lost category once again. That will net them a precious compensatory pick in 2017.