Cook vs. Bennett: Did we sign the right player?

[CheezWizHed]

Ok, I'm not trying to dump on Bennett, but I am a little surprised on how slow he has started with the Packers.

 

Meanwhile, I was also pretty surprised that they Packers signed Bennett over Cook. Yes, Bennett is an upgrade, but sometimes the player fit on a team is also important. Cook was hurt early last year, but seemed to fit on the team really well at the end of the year.

 

Still a long time to see how Bennett will fit in, but given the slow start it makes me wonder if that was the right decision.

[homer]

Bennett + Kendricks > Cook

[CheezWizHed]

Ok, but that wasn't really the question. How about:

 

Bennett + Kendricks vs. Cook + Kendricks

 

Kendricks could've been signed either way.

[hurricanecrush]

Bennett is more of a complete tight end, Cook can't block to save his life. If the line is ever healthy, Bennett's "well-roundedness" will allow them to line him up tight and run or split him out wide depending what package the defense puts in. Bennett is being asked to help the tackles a lot, on last years's team, Cook would probably be on the bench and Richard Rodgers would be blocking.

[homer]

Yeah, his blocking is a very underrated part of his game. Drops will subside.

[GAME05]

Cook was presumably asking for a lot of money, so I don't know if we would have been able to also get Kendricks if we'd have signed Cook.

 

For as much as Montgomery needs to run to the outside to use his speed, having Bennett in there to block has to be a huge advantage over Cook. And a lot of GB's offense is built on deception and not giving away whether they'll run or pass. Cook is a bit of a give-away, but Bennett isn't.

[CheezWizHed]

Cook signed 2 year $12.2M. Bennett was 3 years for $21M. Cook could ask, but got less.

 

I know Cook wasn't great at blocking, but I don't see Bennett as wonderful either. Better, but not massively.

 

At least Bennett made a good down the field catch tonight.

[pacopete4]

Give it time. Bennett will make his mark. If Cook didn't make that catch against the Cowboys, I would already have forgotten his name.

[MillerParkSouth]

Cook started off very, very slowly. I'm not worried about Bennett, especially since i'm sure he's been doing a lot of blocking with all the o-line injuries.

[docduany]

I was listening to Silverstein and Cohen on the JS podcast. Cohen REALLY let in to Bennett on his effort. Seemed to infer that Marty is being a jag bag. Loafing between snaps. Lethargic. Fairly strong take.

From what I've read and heard from the media, Bennett is the best blocking TE on the roster. Heck he's the best blocking TE in Green Bay in the last several seasons (Not that we've had much competition).

Cook vs. Bennett? Bennett's been kept in blocking or at least chipping the entire season, helping the patchwork O-line. Cook doesn't have those blocking chops. I believe once the O-line gets healthy that Bennett will start to produce in the passing game. The drops? No answer. No real history of drops. I'll just hope for improvement.

[OnTheBlack]

Bennett is more of a complete tight end, Cook can't block to save his life. If the line is ever healthy, Bennett's "well-roundedness" will allow them to line him up tight and run or split him out wide depending what package the defense puts in. Bennett is being asked to help the tackles a lot, on last years's team, Cook would probably be on the bench and Richard Rodgers would be blocking.

 

 

These things get thrown out there and then they seem to be repeated over and over. Cook wasn't a great blocker, but he was hardly a terrible blocker. Meanwhile people call Richard Rodgers a blocking-first TE, but PFF had Cook rated significantly higher than Rodgers...just for example. He was rated as the 11th and 13th best blocking TE the two years prior to coming to GB(and he was obviously hurt a good portion of last year).

 

And I think we would have re-signed Cook had we been able to sign him for what the Raiders did. I think he asked for more money and the Packers moved on to Bennett.

 

I think a Cook/Kendricks combination would make us more dangerous and make us more versatile. Bennett's a very good all around TE, I have no issue with him and I think he'll get more productive as the season goes on.