Cook finds home with Raiders
GREEN BAY - Jared Cook did enough in his lone season with the Green Bay Packers to impress a former member of the team’s front office.
Cook signed with the Oakland Raiders on Thursday, according to multiple reports. He’ll join another Super Bowl contender and catch passes from another Pro Bowl quarterback in Derek Carr.
The Raiders are run by general manager Reggie McKenzie, who served as Packers general manager Ted Thompson’s director of player personnel and director of football operations before being hired in Oakland before the 2013 season.
Cook signed a two-year contract worth up to $12.2 million with the first season fully guaranteed, according to NFL Network. That deal would allow Cook to re-enter free agency at age 31. If he receives all of his $6.1 million average per year, Cook will be the 19th highest-paid tight end in the league.
Cook was one of the Packers’ two priorities in free agency, along with outside linebacker Nick Perry. The Packers signed Perry to a five-year, $60 million contract on the opening day of free agency. They were in talks with Cook deep into that night and were close to a deal, but those conversations ended by the next morning after both sides reached a point of no compromise.
Meanwhile, the Raiders patiently waited. They expressed interest in Cook early but had to wait for him to visit the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings. He now will join a team that finished 12-4 and was considered a Super Bowl contender until Carr’s season ended with a broken right leg.
Playing with an upperlevel quarterback was important to Cook. With Aaron Rodgers throwing him passes last season, Cook revived his career in a prove-it year with 30 catches for 377 yards and a touchdown despite missing six games with an ankle injury. He added 18 catches for 229 yards and two touchdowns in three playoff games as the Packers ran the table into the NFC Championship Game.
“It would be good to come back and play in a familiar offense,” Cook said after that game in Atlanta, “and learn even more from 12 (Rodgers).”
But a year after playing for $2.75 million, he was unwilling to accept another deal below market value.
So on the day talks ended, the Packers moved on with a new plan that included not one, but two athletic tight ends to stretch the middle of the field.
They signed Martellus Bennett to a three-year, $21 million contract that only guaranteed the $6.3 million signing bonus. A day later, Lance Kendricks signed a twoyear, $4 million contract with only the $1.2 million signing bonus guaranteed.
Lang reflects: Former Packers Pro Bowl guard T.J. Lang sounded Thursday like a man who may wonder “what if …” for a while before he dives into becoming a member of the Detroit Lions.
“We did everything we said we were going to do,” Lang told the “Wilde and Tausch” program on ESPN 540-AM when asked how free-agency negotiations played out. “We went out and tested the market and we came back to Green Bay and said, ‘Listen, this is what other teams are offering.’ Saturday night was kind of the point where they drew the line in the sand there and said, ‘This is our offer and this is the best we can do.’
“I think that was the first time that it really hit me that I was going to be moving on.
“Everything got crazy Saturday night. The numbers started jumping up and teams started competing against each other a little bit. It was like being on the highway, you know, the speed limit’s 70 and everybody else is going 85 and flying by you. Green Bay just stayed right around the speed limit there.”
Lang also spoke about his conversation with his friend Rodgers after the decision had been made.
“Yeah, it was tough. It was really tough,” Lang said. “Through the whole process I kind of kept him in the loop about what was happening. Ultimately, Sunday when I talked to him, it was hard. It was really hard.”