The Dallas Cowboys started the offseason with a hole to fill in the receiving core after Cole Beasley went to the Buffalo Bills on a four-year 29 million dollar deal. In March, they upgraded the position by signing veteran Wide Receiver Randall Cobb to a one-year deal worth five million.
There was a high risk but also a potential high reward with this move. Sternum, ankle, and hamstring injuries caused Cobb to be on the sideline during his days with the Green Bay Packers more often than you’d like to see. He hasn’t played a full 16 game season since 2015 which was also the last time he had over 800 yards. The Cowboys brought him in hoping to get some resemblance of his 2014 season when he caught 91 passes for 1,287 yards and 12 touchdowns, which was his only All-Pro campaign.
The 2019 season started off well for Cobb against the New York Giants. He caught four passes for 69 yards and a touchdown on five targets in the Cowboys 35-17 victory. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a sign of things to come in the near future. In his next seven games, he failed to reach 30 yards three times and only had one game over 50 yards. Also, he didn’t reach the end zone over that span, making him a forgotten man in the offense. However, the last two games have shown he’s fully capable of playing at a high level even as a third option.
When the Minnesota Vikings came to AT&T Stadium in Week 10 the Cowboys offense would face one of the NFL’s top defensive units, but Dak Prescott and Cobb didn’t get that memo. The two connected six times for 106 yards and a touchdown, making it the first game Cobb has gone over the century mark since his 142-yard performance in the 2018 season opener vs the Chicago Bears.
In desperate need of a win to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles atop the NFC East, the Cowboys traveled to the Motor City to face the Detroit Lions last Sunday. Waiting for the Cowboys top-ranked offense was the Lions 28th ranked pass defense. Like the previous week, Prescott and Cobb put on a show, but this time it was for the legion of Cowboys fans that made the trip to Ford Field. They connected four times for 115 yards and a touchdown giving Cobb back to back 100-yard performances for the first time since 2014. Also, he reached a milestone in this game, going over 6,000 yards for his career.
After a slow start to his Cowboys career, Cobb has shown the last two weeks the level of play this organization hoped for once he signed on the dotted line. His presence in the slot forces teams to adjust their coverage which puts Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup in more one on one situations. Not only has Prescott found his groove with Cobb, but Cooper and Gallup have each had a 100-yard game in the last two weeks as well alongside Cobb.
That’s the potential the Cowboys aerial assault has with the addition of Cobb. You can’t easily double team Cooper or roll coverage to Gallup with him on the field. Most teams dream of having two receivers who can stretch a defense but the Cowboys have three. Also, having this many weapons in the passing game doesn’t allow teams to stack the box to stop All-Pro Ezekiel Elliott.
Cobb has caught 66% of the passes thrown to him by Prescott this season. He has already surpassed his yardage and touchdown totals from 2018 on three fewer receptions. He’s on pace for 825 yards as the Cowboys third option which is outstanding, to say the least. However, if Cobb continues this current level of play or somewhere close to it, the Cowboys could potentially have three 1,000 yard receivers on their roster this season, simply unreal. It’ll be interesting to see how much more dynamic this offense can be going forward as the chemistry between Prescott and Cobb continues to improve.
