Martellus Bennett Signs With Packers, Yes Really.
On Friday, Packers Twitter collapsed on itself for the morning and afternoon. People were saying the season was over, and Ted Thompson is rebuilding this team after news came out Green Bay and Jared Cook broke off talks for a new contract. The amount of freaking out was almost impressive. People absolutely lost their shit. All of that didn’t matter by the end of the day as Thompson and Packers agreed to a three-year deal with Martellus Bennett for 21 million dollars leaving Cook to find a new team.
Bennett had a great year with New England Patriots where he caught 55 passes for 701 yards and seven touchdowns. Bennett proved to be a force down in the red zone and provided Tom Brady with a solid option especially when Rob Gronkowski went down with an injury. Marty B is a physically imposing figure at 6’6 and 270 pounds. He’s a matchup nightmare for teams, and while Brady is a great quarterback, I feel he can succeed with Aaron Rodgers even more. Rodgers isn’t the checkdown artist that Brady is and Bennett will be found more in space. This is a strong deal for Thompson and Packers solving the tight end need with likely a better player than Cook.
With Bennett comes some obvious drama as he’s a very outspoken player. That doesn’t always work with Packers fans and the media. People tried to draw some sort of narrative about how Aaron Rodgers and him wouldn’t have the same relationship as Cook which seems like one of the dumber conclusions to draw. We have no idea how Bennett and Rodgers will vibe and I’m sure they’ll be fine. I cannot wait for Bennett’s first hot take that is going to make fans upset because it’s happening probably by late July.
As for Cook, he made a mistake, no question about it. The agent overplayed his hand, and when Packers probably offered around the same contract, Cook thought he deserves more. That’s not how he should have played it. Cook finally had a quarterback that develop him as a tight end and show his true skill. Now, Cook will look to find another elite quarterback to play with or just grab as much money as possible.
Charlie.