“My guys.’’
That’s what Bill Parcells used to call the players he’d previously coached whom he took with him to his next job.
Those players — from Maurice Carthon to Pepper Johnson to Aaron Glenn to Matt Chatham and many more — were invaluable to the Hall of Fame coach, who went from the Giants to the Patriots to the Jets to the Cowboys as a head coach and always brought a group of those guys with him.
Not only could those players still perform effectively enough to help Parcells’ teams win, but they helped spread his message around the locker room, teaching the other players about his standards and expectations.
Fast-forward to the 2023 Jets with their celebrated offseason acquisition Aaron Rodgers. The former Packers superstar quarterback, has, in effect, brought some of his guys with him from Green Bay to the Jets in receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb.
Those players, of course, wouldn’t be on the Jets if head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas didn’t think they could still catch passes and help the team win.
But their presence can also be crucial to the chemistry of this team as they spread the Rodgers message throughout the locker room and help the uninitiated understand the standard the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback expects out of those around him.
As Saleh said this week, Rodgers is as close to coach as there is without actually being on the staff. And the likes of Lazard and Cobb, both of whom were productive with Rodgers in Green Bay, are an extension of Rodgers inside the locker room and meeting rooms.
“As a coach, sometimes we bring in guys who we are familiar with to help, [because] they know our messaging, they know our scheme,’’ Saleh said Monday. “It’s no different for a player, no different for a quarterback. Speaking from my shoes as a coach and what we look for, I would imagine it helps [Rodgers] a lot.
“Sometimes when something new is being presented, it can sound like a foreign language, so having another voice who knows from a receiver standpoint [helps]. You teach something, but receivers might be receiving that thing a little bit differently, so a guy like Randall and Allen could say, ‘Hey, this is what he means’ in receiver language and they’re like, ‘Oh, OK.’
“It’s player-to-player conversation and those moments are very powerful, sometimes more powerful than coaching.’’
Neither Lazard nor Cobb is likely to catch 100 passes or score 20 touchdowns this season. Lazard, 27, caught a career-high 60 passes last season and has 168 receptions for 2,229 yards and 20 TDs in his last four seasons in Green Bay. Cobb, 32, is in is 13th season and is more of a third-down specialist. He caught 34 passes for 417 yards and a TD last season.
The numbers for both receivers are modest at best. But their value stretches beyond the numbers.
“Having me, Randall, Billy [Turner, a tackle who played in Green Bay], even Adrian [Amos, a former Packers safety] and [former Packers running back Damarea] Crockett — guys that were in Green Bay and know the culture, know the standard and seeing what greatness looks like,’’ Lazard said Monday. “When we’re having our individual meetings, Aaron’s not in there talking about this or that. But being in so many meetings with him and having experience with him on the field, we are able to speak for him as to what he would be thinking in certain situations.’’
Cobb, who’s played with Rodgers for 10 of his 12 NFL seasons, echoed Lazard’s sentiments, joking with an inquiring reporter by saying, “So, you want the gospel of Aaron Rodgers?’’
“We’ve had opportunity to play with him for a long time, so we know what to expect, we know what he’s looking for,’’ Cobb said of himself and Lazard. “Playing with great quarterbacks like Tom Brady, they’re very particular in the way that they do things, the way they go about it and how to get to certain calls. And [us] being able to pass on that knowledge is going to be huge for us.’’
Cobb won a lot of games with Rodgers in Green Bay, so he knows what a good team looks like. He likes what he sees with these Jets, but warned that simply rolling out Rodgers behind center on Sundays is not enough.
“We have the makings of a very good team, but it’s about building it through training camp and building it together,’’ Cobb said. “It’s not about Aaron Rodgers, it’s about the New York Jets. It’s bigger than what he does. It’s about us collectively playing at a high level and finding a way to win games.’’
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