GREEN BAY — The Green Bay Packers spent roughly a decade wandering in the special teams wilderness, searching for a return man who could be a consistent game-changer. Then they found him in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft in Randall Cobb.
But as Cobb preps for his third NFL season, he does so knowing that his role in the team's offense is set to expand — after a 2012 season in which he caught a team-leading 80 passes for 954 yards in 15 games while emerging as quarterback Aaron Rodgers' favorite target while Greg Jennings (eight games) and Jordy Nelson (four games) missed time with injuries. With Jennings now in Minnesota and Rodgers predicting a 100-catch season for Cobb, it's clear his arrow is still pointing up.
And yet, Coach Mike McCarthy and special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum are adamant that they will use Cobb on returns if no one else proves capable of doing the job.
That's where Jeremy Ross comes in.
If Ross proves capable — following an up-and-down 2012 when he showed potential but also made a crucial mistake — then Cobb will be able to focus on offense while McCarthy and Slocum wouldn't fret about losing field position by not having Cobb on returns.
"Really, (Cobb's) special teams responsibility is really up to his teammates," McCarthy said at the end of organized team activity practices in June. "There's opportunity there for others to compete and perform. And we won't know that until training camp. And hopefully (someone will) take Randall's place.
"Now, we've been very productive on special teams, Randall is a big part of that. It's really the approach that I like to play the football game. Field position is an important statistic and it is an important component of winning football games. We're definitely a different team when Randall is a returner."
While the Packers won Super Bowl XLV in 2010, they did so with the 25th-ranked kickoff return unit (20.4 yards per return) and 22nd-ranked punt return unit (7.9 yards per return) in the 32-team league. During that season, the Packers also exposed two of their up-and-coming star players — Tramon Williams, who became a Pro Bowl-caliber cornerback that season, and Jordy Nelson, who finished the 2010 season strong and blossomed into a top-tier receiver in 2011 — to potential injury on returns.
Then along came Cobb, who made an instant impact with a 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in his NFL debut, the Packers' 42-34 victory over the New Orleans Saints. The return tied the record for longest kickoff return in NFL history and was a preview of what was to come. It also was the Packers' first kickoff return for a touchdown since Allen Rossum on Nov. 19, 2000.
As a rookie, Cobb finished the regular season ranked second in the NFL in kickoff return average (27.7 yards) and seventh in the NFL in punt return average (11.3 yards). With an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown against Minnesota, he was one of only three returners to register a kickoff return TD and a punt return TD that season.
In 2012, Cobb returned 38 kickoffs for 964 yards and 31 punts for 294 yards — giving him a franchise single-season record 2,342 all-purpose yards — and ranked ninth in the NFL in kickoff return average (25.4) and 17th in punt return average (9.4).
When given the opportunity, Ross was productive — save for a colossal mistake at the worst possible time. His muffed punt at the Packers' 9-yard line in their 45-31 NFC Divisional Playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers set up a 49ers touchdown that tied the game at 14-14. Ross also dropped a cross-field lateral from Cobb in a regular-season victory at Chicago, although the coaches' decision to call the play received more criticism than Ross' lost fumble.
If not for those two mistakes, Ross might already be the starting returner. He had a 58-yard punt return in the Dec. 23 victory over Tennessee, then had a 44-yard kickoff return and a 32-yard punt return against Minnesota in the regular-season finale. He worked only on kickoff returns in the NFC Wild Card game against the Vikings before handling both jobs against the 49ers — until the fumble, which landed him on the bench.
"When you look at his arrival and what he accomplished in his short time, you have to be impressed," McCarthy said of Ross as offseason workouts ended. "He's a versatile player; he's an excellent special teams player."
The 6-foot, 215-pound Ross signed with the Packers' practice squad on Oct. 17, after he spent the final 13 games of the 2011 season on the Indianapolis Colts' practice squad. He came into the league as an undrafted rookie free agent from California-Berkeley and spent 2011 training camp with the New England Patriots. He finished his career at Cal ranked No. 2 on the school's all-time punt return list with a 15.2-yard average.
Ross will also compete for one of the top five wide receiver jobs behind Cobb, Nelson and James Jones following Jennings' departure and Donald Driver's retirement. While he didn't catch a pass last season, he caught Rodgers' attention by coming to him with questions about the playbook and with his approach in practice.
For his part, Ross said during OTAs that he hasn't lost any confidence in himself after the way last season ended.
"I took one day after the game just to feel bad about it, be discouraged about it, be upset, be sad, whatever, and then the next day, I flushed it. I was just trying my best to move forward and think about, 'Who am I trying to become now, and what am I working towards?'" Ross said. "My mindset is, I'm trying to get on this field by any means. Whatever I can do. If I'm competing for the returner spot, I'm going to give my best to try to win it. That's my mindset, wherever I'm at.
"It does me no good, constantly thinking about what happened in the past. I just try my best to move forward and like, 'What's the next thing?' I just take it and learn from it and be happy that it happened — it sucks that it happened, but I just take whatever I can from it."
Jason Wilde wrote: