Injury Bounceback & Sleeper: Randall Cobb

Fantasy Football Injury Comebacks For 2014

Injuries are stressful for Fantasy Owners. Few things are more deflating than watching your star receiver getting wrecked across the middle, or a running back clutching his knee after being brought down. Or, you know, hearing about one of your guys breaking an arm saving the pizza from falling on the floor during a car crash...

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No matter how the injury may occur, it's equally frustrating as you’re forced to watch potential points vanish into thin air.

But injuries are much more terrifying when they are in the present than when they are in the past. In fact, past injuries have the potential to be gold mines. The extent to which a player is actually hampered by an injury from last year sometimes gets overblown, causing their fantasy stock to drop.

Take 2012 for example. Adrian Peterson had blown out his knee the previous postseason and no one had any clue what to expect from All Day coming into the season. What did we learn? The Minnesota running back is actually a mutant, capable of superhuman healing powers. Not only does he end up returning to form for the 2012 season, but comes 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record. Peterson went at the end of the third round in two different leagues I was in that year.

The gems in your 2014 Draft are out there and I am here to help you mine for them. I give you part one of a three piece series, highlighting those injured last year who will be going a few rounds too late this year. We’re not talking about the Julio Jones's or the Rob Gronkowskis either; you don’t need to be reminded that players who are in the top tier of their position are going to have great years. These are the “oh yeah, I forgot he was injured last year, that’s why his stats are so bad” type of guys.

And today we look at a player who could swing numerous leagues this year: Green Bay’s Randall Cobb.

Randall Cobb, Wide Receiver, Green Bay Packers

We went into the 2013 season wondering how the Packers were going to utilize the University of Kentucky product and questioned what kind of effect it would have on his fantasy numbers. Personally, seeing Cobb lining up in the backfield and carrying the ball five yards up the gut was terrifying (I envisioned dreadful images of severed legs and grade 9 concussions).

Instead, last year the 23-year-old had his special team time sliced and his rushing attempts cut back. Nonetheless, Cobb was still lining up all over the field (including the backfield) and Green Bay's offense was designed to get the ball into his hands with room to operate regularly. The results through five games were stellar. The chemistry with Rodgers had obviously bloomed and it was Cobb that the quarterback was looking for once plays began to break down. The young receiver had yet to surpass the 1000 yard benchmark in a season and it seemed like 2013 was going to be the year it was going to happen.

Then, in Week 5, the Raven’s Matt Elam decided that his helmet had never been properly introduced to the Green Bay wide receiver and took action to fix that. At first glance it seems that the helmet turns everything in Cobb’s knee to mush, but we later learned that the hit caused a fractured tibia. I’m assuming that in the split second that Elam needed to make a tackle, he quickly decided against endangering Cobb’s head (and subsequently Elam’s wallet) and decided instead to mutilate his knee. The league became abuzz following the play and the debate over the legality of low hits raged on (though we go into the new season with no real action taken to protect offensive players' lower extremities). Nevertheless, the broken shin costed Cobb all but Week 17 in 2013 and his 1000 yard dream was dashed.

But do you smell that?

That’s just the stench of motivation reeking off of Cobb right now. Pretty pungent, huh? Maybe even a little sickening if you ask me. I’m halfway across the country gagging on this odor.

You get the picture.

Summarizing Our Comeback Story

Both Cobb and Rodgers are going into this season with something to prove. Surely the thought of the Chicago Bears being reigning division champions has to steal countless minutes of sleep from them on a nightly basis. Cobb has a natural ability to find all the seams and holes against zone defense and then he’s a threat to burn any defensive back who tries to cover him one on one. When he happens to catch it behind the defense, forget about it, the man has elite close out speed.

And let's not forget to factor in the Mike McCarthy playbook. Though he’s been lining Cobb up less and less in the backfield, you see unique plays happening in Green Bay regularly. An end-around resulting in a 50+ yard gain for Cobb is not uncommon. And we haven’t even touched on the fact that defenses are going to have to devote tons of attention to Jordy Nelson and Eddie Lacy (and to a lesser extent, Jarrett Boykin), meaning that Cobb will be lining up across from some very favorable match ups throughout the year. When this offense is reeling, it has the potential to be as lethal as any offense in recent history. And that's with only having a vague idea of what the Rodgers-Cobb-Nelson-Lacy combo is actually capable of, for all we know, this offense could end up being a reincarnation of the Kurt Warner St. Louis Rams from the early 2000.

And why not top this Cobb sundae off with a “looking for that first extension” cherry and what do we have? All signs are pointing to numbers. A lot of them.

Take the Week 17 performance (2 catches for 2 touchdowns) in Chicago not as an afterthought of 2013 but an indicator of Randall Cobb’s mindset going into this season. He wants the ball and he wants to get it to the end zone. Cobb is going to be a borderline top tier receiver. Expect him to still be the feisty speedster that he is, achieve that 1000 yard dream with Rodgers, and threaten to score at least ten times. If he’s floating around during the fourth round, quietly snag him and enjoy the compliments to come from your fellow managers.

All indications point to a massive Green Bay offensive season and Randall Cobb being a stud. Don't sleep on this healthy, motivated wide out.