Does Donald Driver Hurt Randall Cobb’s Fantasy Value?
According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, the Green Bay Packers and long-time wide receiver Donald Driver have agreed to a restructured deal that will keep him in Green Bay for at least one more season.
Packer fans everywhere rejoice, as Driver is a fan favorite and is still an exceptional secondary option in the passing game. However, at 37 and regressing skills, some may also wonder why Green Bay didn’t just cut their ties with him when it made the most sense.
Prior to the restructuring of his contract, Driver was due roughly $5 million in 2012, and no one would have batted an eye over his release. And if the team wanted to move on from an aging receiver when they have quality young talent behind him, well, the more power to them.
But that’s not what is happening.
Rather, Driver is sticking around and taking up space in Green Bay’s offense. It’s anyone’s guess what his exact role in the offense will be in 2012, but his mere presence suggests it will be similar to what it was in 2011, when he hauled in 37 receptions for 445 yards and six touchdowns.
With Driver set to hang around for at least 2012, fans and fantasy owners alike have to wonder just how much his presence will affect the production of more explosive weapons such as James Jones and Randall Cobb.
Jones is currently projected to retain the slot role he had for most of 2011, while Driver and Cobb would likely rotate as the fourth and fifth receivers.
But with another receiver still in the mix, Cobb’s once rising stock has to be calming down considerably.
The Green Bay Packers have one of the most potent passing offenses in the entire league, but even Aaron Rodgers can’t get the ball to everyone enough to make them valuable in fantasy football. Either Driver’s role needs to shrink considerably in 2012, or Cobb can’t hold much value.
That, or Cobb somehow leap-frogs James Jones for the role in the slot.
It’s hard to say how it shakes up, but all we can really go off of right now is how things ended up last year.
Jones reeled in 38 receptions, Driver had 37, and Cobb had just 25. All of the other targets were divided up between Rodgers’s top three targets, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley.
There just aren’t enough balls to give the other guys great value.
Needless to say, it may be time to cool the jets on calling Cobb this year’s next great sleeper. As long as Driver is around, Green Bay’s secondary receiving options will have one more mouth to share the feeding bowl with – which means they simply cannot be counted on for consistent production.
Kevin Roberts 
Keet Bailey 
Taylor Smith 
Michael Cellars 
Trevor Gunn 
Terrence Kirker
I��m glad I found your article. The information is useful, interesting and well-written. You make beneficial points that I concur with and appreciate. Thank you for this top notch material.
But wanna comment on few general things, The website layout is perfect, the content material is very excellent : D.
Hi actually fantastic browse. I ought to admit aim pretty new to using WordPress well actually quite new. Just starting for getting the hang of it. Reading your post has been pretty informative. I need to admit still not totally 100% percent clear in my head. So have just put your blog on my desktop so I’m able to go straight to it and have another appearance later.
Hey there! Excellent stuff, do maintain us posted when you finally post something like that!
Thank you for sharing excellent information. Your website is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles.