The one thing we took away from Tuesday night’s Green Bay Packers practice was that Jared Cook looks like a boss.
Cook practiced for the first time Tuesday evening. As expected, he didn’t get a lot of snaps, but he made the most of those he did get.
Here’s Bob McGinn’s observance.
On the third 11-on-11 play of the night, Cook flashed into the middle of what looked like a two-deep shell and made a terrific catch between FS Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and SS Micah Hyde on a ball from Rodgers for about 20 yards. A red-zone period ended when Cook accelerated away from speedy FS Kentrell Brice for a 1-yard TD flip from Rodgers. In later red-zone work, Cook flew into the middle on third and 6 to haul in a 16-yard TD from Rodgers. He wrapped up the night with a 6-yard TD followed by a bang-bang slant for 9 on third and 9 from Rodgers in a blitz drill.
Basically, every time Aaron Rodgers looked to Cook, the guy made a play.
Now, before we get too excited, this was of course just one practice.
We knew Cook was a big, athletic target when the Packers signed him. He’s also been known throughout his career as a guy who doesn’t get the most out of his talent. In his defense, he’s played with a laundry list of quarterbacks who could most adequately be described as bums.
A past-his-prime Matt Hasselbeck is the top guy on that list.
On the flip side, Cook drops a lot of passes. We haven’t seen that in the brief time he’s been in Green Bay, but Cook was credited with 10 drops in 2015. That’s the most among tight ends.
But maybe playing with a quarterback that’s decent will improve his focus.
Should we be concerned that this guy sounds like a FinMe clone?
Considering 1) We have a TE opposite him who catches everything, 2) his brain actually appears to be functioning when he speaks, and 3) he has yet to play a single down of gameday football with Aaron Rodgers I wouldn’t get your granny panties in too big of a wad just yet.