I know that the trade deadline has come and gone but earlier this week former Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley Tweeted a trade that actually might have made sense. Even though it's no longer possible this season, he may have hit on something deeper than a simple trade.

Forget the trade at this point since the trade deadline has passed. Finley played with Randall Cobb in Green Bay three years ago before having a career ending neck injury. He obviously doesn't think that Cobb's a pivotal part of the offense if he's so easily and willing to trade him.

But you know what, he's right and if the Packers would have made that trade it wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. Haden is a good corner and that's exactly what Green Bay needs to improve on defense.

Look at the top teams in the NFL this season. New England, Minnesota, Dallas, Seattle and Denver. Other than Dallas, all of these teams have top ranked defense that are giving up an average of 17 or less points a game.

Cobb's production over the past two seasons hasn't been stellar. He's only had two games over 100 yards receiving and caught nine touchdowns in 24 games. In 2014 alone, he had six 100 yard games and caught 13 touchdowns including the playoffs.

Even worse is the fact that Cobb catches a lot of balls for minimal gains, in the last two seasons he's averaged 11 yards per catch. Not a terrible number but not really what you want out of a star receiver.

Look around the league at other "small" speed receivers. Julian Edelman has averaged 10.9 with five less games than Cobb. Emmanuel Sanders in the last 26 games has averaged 14.1, same as Brandin Cooks in 23 games. T.Y. Hilton has averaged 15.6 in 24 games the past two years.

Now those stats can be affected by good/bad quarterback play or good/bad offensive line play and both have occurred the last two years in Green Bay. However, Cobb's a speedy slot type receiver that can't get ANY separation from defenders but yet counts $9.15 million towards the cap this season and $12.75 million next season.

I'm not saying that the lack of production is solely Cobb's fault but it's time for the organization to look at whether or not Cobb's production is worth his big cap hit and to me it's definitely not. That money needs to be spent either defensively or on a wide receiver that can get open more frequently.

Jordy Nelson also has a large cap number and at age 31, has shown that he might not be quite as fast as he was in 2014. However, he's more than worth it at 6 foot 3 and with great catching ability, which shines in the red zone. Nelson has 9 catches inside the red zone and six touchdowns this season.

Unless Cobb really turns it around the second half of the season, next year Green Bay needs to move on from Cobb and let young receivers Davante Adams, Ty Montgomery and Trevor Davis flourish.

 

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