Packers acquire Randall Cobb from Texans for 6th-round pick, Houston to take on salary

The done deal is finally, well, done.

Aaron Rodgers has his friend back. The Green Bay Packers didn’t have to give up much to get him. And the Houston Texans clear a large portion of a rough contract off their books.

Rarely is there a win-win trade for all parties, but the Packers’ acquisition of wideout Randall Cobb appears to be just that. Furthermore, it looks like Cobb gets a major win here as well, as he will reportedly still get paid in 2021.

The terms of the deal come from NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, who reports that the Packers will send the Texans a sixth-round draft pick in exchange for Cobb. He also notes that the Texans have agreed to pay about $3 million of Cobb’s salary this year in order to help the deal go through.

The Packers would have been unable to absorb the full cap hit of Cobb’s contract for this season as his deal was written. Cobb was due to receive $8.25 million in guaranteed salary for 2021, while the Packers only had around $5 million in salary cap space. Unless Cobb takes a further pay cut, this means that Cobb will earn around $5.5 million in Green Bay this season between his base salary and per-game roster bonuses.

Perhaps in preparation for this move, Houston acquired former Bears receiver Anthony Miller a few days ago for a fifth-round pick. Examining the two trades together mean that they have swapped a fifth-round pick and Cobb for a sixth-round pick and Miller, while clearing roughly $4.26 million in salary cap space off their books for the upcoming season — the difference between Cobb’s original cap number for 2021 ($10.47 million) and the sum of Miller’s cap number ($1.21M), $2M in dead money from Cobb’s signing bonus, and the additional $3 million of Cobb’s salary that they are paying out.

The Packers, meanwhile, get a veteran slot receiver and Rodgers gets his friend and security blanket back, all for the price of a 6th-round draft pick.