How Randall Cobb's message to Dak Prescott helped bring receiver to Dallas Cowboys offense

FRISCO, Texas — Earl Thomas started it.

It was Thomas who went to the Cowboys locker room after a December 2017 game at AT&T Stadium, Thomas who told head coach Jason Garrett to come get him, and Thomas who then declared to reporters: “When the Seahawks kick me to the curb, please, Cowboys, come get me.”

But the All-Pro safety and the Cowboys didn’t agree on a price so Thomas landed with Baltimore in free agency.

Enter veteran Pro Bowl receiver Randall Cobb.

Cobb recounted a similar story on Thursday night from the team’s draft party at the Star. The Cowboys didn’t select a player Thursday after trading their first-round pick to the Raiders for Amari Cooper.

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“I talked to Dak before and … it was actually funny,” Cobb said. “We were at the NFL Honors and I was like, ‘Hey, man, come get me.’ But yeah we were able to make it happen and I’m glad to be here.”

Cobb and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott each attended the NFL Honors ceremony in Atlanta on Feb. 3 over Super Bowl weekend.

Six weeks and a one-year, $5 million deal later, Cobb was resettling in North Texas. He discussed offensive principles with Garrett, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and receivers coach Sanjay Lal on a visit before signing. Conversation with Prescott helped seal the deal.

Cobb replaces Cole Beasley, who spent seven seasons with the Cowboys, as an expected underneath threat for Dak Prescott. “Another piece of the puzzle,” he described his role beside Pro Bowler Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Allen Hurns and Tavon Austin. Add in rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott’s knack for opening up the passing game, and Cobb has his eyes on a playoff run.

“I definitely believe in this team,” he said. “I wanted to be on a team that was a contender and I definitely believe we have the ability. It’s just putting the pieces together.”

Cobb has begun work to solidify his role in that puzzle. He said he’s moved his wife and eight-month-old son to Dallas (he’d already moved them from Green Bay to Los Angeles this offseason); joined the Cowboys’ hamstring program to protect himself from the soft-tissue injury that limited him in 2018; and he’s worked with Prescott at the team facility and on their own. Cobb speaks cautiously about his and Prescott’s potential, preferring first to see their communication in the slot when defenses complicate routes. But he’s identified Prescott’s strengths.

“I definitely think his arm strength, his ability to work the field,” Cobb said. “He gets great protection up front, offensive line is amazing. He’s able to create after the play, he moves around when things aren’t there and finds plays downfield.”

Like Prescott’s Week 17 game-winning touchdown on fourth-and-15, perhaps, with the very receiver that Cobb was brought in to replace.

Cobb arrives in Dallas after eight seasons in Green Bay in which he caught 470 balls for 5,524 yards and 41 touchdowns. He’s caught another 47 passes for 596 yards and five touchdowns in postseason play. And yes, his teammates remember the 15 catches and 178 yards he hauled in as the Packers knocked out the Cowboys in 2014 and 2016 divisional-round matchups. Cobb laughs at the locker-room banter about his former alliance like he does when asked whether ex-Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant caught the ball in the infamous play from the 2014 Lambeau Field contest.

“Did he catch it?” Cobb said, his smile wide. “I don’t know, y’all trying to set me up already?”

But even as he works through the playoff history, he enters draft weekend embracing his new team. He already speaks of Dallas’ 2018 playoff run at the run “we” made last year; marvels at how his teammates want to be near the facility year round (he says that wasn’t the case in Green Bay); and says decisively that even if Wisconsin may not agree — he believes the Cowboys are America’s Team.

The combined effect is that of a wide-eyed, fresh approach for a receiver who will turn 29 before the season opener and has seen his production fall roughly four yards per catch from 2014 to 2018. Cobb’s 42.6 yards per game in 2018 were his lowest since 2011, his rookie year.

But Cobb looks forward.

“It’s like being the new kid at school when you’re trying to find your way around, figure out where the classrooms are” Cobb said. “I’m continuing to learn different things and it’s refreshing. It’s a new energy for me.

“I think it’s definitely going to be great for me to rejuvenate my career.”

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.

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