Speaker 1: But I remember before that game, it was like right
Speaker 1: before the trade deadline when we played the Factors, and
Speaker 1: I remember going out for warm ups is just like
Speaker 1: trying to go with everybody like please come get me, please,
Speaker 1: let's go. Somebody I was going to like, I would
Speaker 1: have to, like Mark Burphy like please, like Google everybody,
Speaker 1: Uh like we can't. They couldn't do anything about that.
Speaker 1: What's up. I'm Randall Cob for a Green Bay Packtor. Hello,
Speaker 1: esteemed listeners. Yes, I'm talking to most of you. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you're here with me for another episode of Off
Speaker 1: the Beat Sports. I am your host, Brian baum Gartner,
Speaker 1: and today I have a dear friend and an incredible
Speaker 1: player from well my favorite football team. Randall Cobb of
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers, is in studio today. He is
Speaker 1: now a professional wide receiver in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: But he was not a sports prodigy or even a
Speaker 1: high school superstar, no, ma'am. Shockingly, he was a bench
Speaker 1: warmer for a lot longer than you might think. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get into that some of his favorite plays of
Speaker 1: all time and some of mine, and we'll even bring
Speaker 1: up the dark Ages, by which, of course I mean
Speaker 1: when he moved to Houston for a period of time.
Speaker 1: I don't like to think about it, but it's important
Speaker 1: to learn the mistakes of history so we don't repeat them,
Speaker 1: you know. So here he is my pal, Randall Cobb,
Speaker 1: bub I love it, Bubble squeak on Bubble and squeaker
Speaker 1: cook at every month left over from the Natyo well
Speaker 1: sing boom Terrerol Randolph, What is happening my man? How
Speaker 1: are you doing? I'm good. I wore the shirt, the
Speaker 1: green and gold golf shirt today. I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: talk to you. How have you been? And I'm great.
Speaker 1: I'm great. I'm actually up here in Green day eight
Speaker 1: right now, that's all. So you're there? Now? How long
Speaker 1: have you been in June? You you get, you get
Speaker 1: a little more time and then you come back right yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so we uh, I've been up here for about five
Speaker 1: weeks now. We got mini camp next week and then
Speaker 1: another week of Oats Gays and then we'll have a
Speaker 1: break before its training camp stars to late Tovive. Nice.
Speaker 1: Are you excited? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Man. One of
Speaker 1: the years, well believe at the time goes by fast.
Speaker 1: I actually found a picture of us from at a
Speaker 1: bar in Green Day Saturday. Yes, I think you were
Speaker 1: hurt though, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was out.
Speaker 1: I was that you were not playing the next day.
Speaker 1: I was not playing the next day. Let's let's make
Speaker 1: sure yes that is and that's accurate. We're not fudging.
Speaker 1: I remember that night very very well. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for you. I'm I want to go back a little
Speaker 1: bit before we talk about the Packers. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about your early start in sports back in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: So you were born in Maryville and then grew up
Speaker 1: in it's al Coha, right, alcohol, the Aluminium Company of America. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: Now I read you were a letterman in football, basketball,
Speaker 1: and track, So that means you were an athlete. Just
Speaker 1: spoiler alert that that's what that means for you. Was
Speaker 1: it just about being in sport or did you have
Speaker 1: a particular interest early on growing up? Uh? Not really.
Speaker 1: You know, I started playing sports when I was four,
Speaker 1: and from age five until my senior in high school,
Speaker 1: I played year round. It was like football season ended
Speaker 1: played in the basketball, basketball season ended straight into baseball,
Speaker 1: Baseball season ended straight into football. And it was just
Speaker 1: this cycle that just every year. It just never ended,
Speaker 1: and then like I got to the point where I
Speaker 1: gave up baseball and then I started running tracks, which
Speaker 1: track took place of baseball, and that was just me.
Speaker 1: I just I love being outside. I love anything competitive,
Speaker 1: like I just I love competing and having fun and
Speaker 1: you know, living life. Yeah, when did it transition from
Speaker 1: this is what I do. I love sports, I love competing,
Speaker 1: to this is what I want to do in my life.
Speaker 1: Do you remember was there a moment? I would say
Speaker 1: that moment for me was probably like my eighth grade year.
Speaker 1: I remember being in middle school and hearing about a
Speaker 1: guy that went to Arrival School Maryville, where where I
Speaker 1: was born, I was born in He was going to
Speaker 1: Auburn to play football in college. And I was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, that's cool, Like he used to go to
Speaker 1: college and he's get to playing in SEC. Like I
Speaker 1: grew up ten minute school University of Tennessee. I used
Speaker 1: to sell hot dogs at the stadium as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I used to go on Saturdays and
Speaker 1: grab my hot dog fill, walk around the stadium, walk
Speaker 1: up those stairs in Newland Stadium selling hot dogs. And
Speaker 1: my my dream was always like to play college football.
Speaker 1: Like that was just like, oh man, this is amazing.
Speaker 1: But I think whenever I heard like, oh, this guy's
Speaker 1: going to Auburn, that's an SEC school, like I would
Speaker 1: go to school there. So in my mind, I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm transferring to Maryville. I'm going to Marrable High School.
Speaker 1: They had won a bunch of state championships. Alpha had
Speaker 1: had some success here and there, but you know, my
Speaker 1: my cousin and my brother, they wanted to state championship
Speaker 1: in two thousands and you know, so it's like O
Speaker 1: two oh three and I'm like, okay, well I want
Speaker 1: to do this. So I'm gonna go where I know
Speaker 1: a guy has done this. And the high school coach
Speaker 1: at the time he came to me, it was like, hey, like,
Speaker 1: I think you got a great opportunity here. If you
Speaker 1: stay here, I think we can make something happen. And
Speaker 1: uh so I stayed it out for we had a
Speaker 1: great high school team. We ended up my four years
Speaker 1: of high school, we won four state championship and we
Speaker 1: had my sophomore year like two guys from between that
Speaker 1: division one. So it became a reality when I started
Speaker 1: like seeing it happen right around me, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: like this is this is a real thing like that
Speaker 1: could really like go to college. Yeah, now I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you a little bit about this. This
Speaker 1: guy Gary Ankin, right, this is this is your high
Speaker 1: school coach. These statistics seem absolutely impossible. I mean, he
Speaker 1: won he won thirteen state championships in sixteen years at
Speaker 1: Alcoha High School. But it wasn't just what was in
Speaker 1: the water in al CoA, because this dude won four
Speaker 1: at Riverdale High School prior to that. And then this
Speaker 1: is not There's got to be something going on here.
Speaker 1: I mean, does he just does he just transferred to
Speaker 1: the school, because then I heard he announced his retirement
Speaker 1: right this year, and then three weeks later announced he
Speaker 1: was going back to Boyd, Buchanan and Chattanooga. It sounds
Speaker 1: like he's moving where he knows the athletes are. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I don't know this for a fact.
Speaker 1: I don't know this for a fact. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say that, but I think he is very elective than
Speaker 1: you know, the jobs that he takes and the places
Speaker 1: that he goes. He walked into a situation when he
Speaker 1: came to alcohol. So he wasn't my coach, My pfession
Speaker 1: and sophomore year we had a coach, John who who
Speaker 1: ended up going to Georgia and taking a job in Georgia.
Speaker 1: So we had one two state championships already and he
Speaker 1: comes into the program, you know, back to back state championships.
Speaker 1: Going to my junior year, we had two receivers that
Speaker 1: had five plus offers. We had myself at quarterback, who
Speaker 1: I wasn't being highly recruited. Everybody didn't think I was
Speaker 1: a quarterback, so I wasn't quite there yet. But we
Speaker 1: had we had some players. We had a defensive ent
Speaker 1: that was committed to Tennessee, had thirty plus offers. You know,
Speaker 1: we had, we had some talent. So yeah, he I
Speaker 1: think he knew very selective then where he's coming into.
Speaker 1: But I mean when you go when you go back
Speaker 1: to my hometown and you asked people around there, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of talents, a lot of hidden gens coming
Speaker 1: out of there, and we put a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of guys in college and you know, some have
Speaker 1: panned out. I'm the only one that's the NFL, but
Speaker 1: hopefully in the years. Yeah, okay, so you you start
Speaker 1: thinking about eighth grade, maybe I could do this, maybe
Speaker 1: I could play college ball. Was there a person or
Speaker 1: people that you feel like helped you to get there?
Speaker 1: For sure, there was a lot of people. I think
Speaker 1: most importantly was my my dad. He was always there
Speaker 1: to give me confidence and to instill the love of
Speaker 1: the game for me. You know, he had coached me
Speaker 1: from when I was a kid up until middle school,
Speaker 1: and having him kind of helped me see things from
Speaker 1: a different lens. I had a cousin, James Rayner. We
Speaker 1: call the Stink I think. Uh. He ran track in college.
Speaker 1: He was like a ten oh six hundred guys, so
Speaker 1: he had speed and he had won Stage campionship in
Speaker 1: two thousand. He was a big influence in my time there.
Speaker 1: And then my coaches. You know, I had some I
Speaker 1: had some great coaches that helped push me along and
Speaker 1: gave me those opportunities. But yeah, my pops, I mean
Speaker 1: I used to my junior year when it's my junior here,
Speaker 1: I went on all kind of trips, so to these
Speaker 1: summer camps at different colleges, and I had coaches telling
Speaker 1: me that I've never played you one. I had you know,
Speaker 1: people telling me that I should move the corner or
Speaker 1: safety like this. Like that. I wanted to I wanted
Speaker 1: to play offense, so you know, I always saw myself
Speaker 1: touching the ball. So yeah, so I think I had
Speaker 1: a lot of people and also my teammates in high school.
Speaker 1: You know, they were some crazy athletic guys, and you
Speaker 1: go back to my hometown and asked them, I probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't be the one that they would think to be
Speaker 1: in this position now, because that's how good the guys
Speaker 1: in front of me were, right, So like they they
Speaker 1: had situations with grades, not being able to get into college,
Speaker 1: so being able to learn from other people's mistakes and
Speaker 1: also having a support system around me. Yeah, I understand
Speaker 1: your folks. You give them a tremendous amount of credit
Speaker 1: really for financially supporting your dream and to get you know,
Speaker 1: allowing you the opportunity to participate in sports. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was huge. I think that's the difference. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: but you continue through high school to play the other sports? Now,
Speaker 1: was that to keep you active or were you still
Speaker 1: thinking were you good enough in track or in basketball
Speaker 1: to to make a run there or no, no, I
Speaker 1: wasn't good enough in football at that time. You gotta
Speaker 1: understand like I wasn't I wasn't seeing the field. My
Speaker 1: freshman and sophomore year, I didn't play until we were
Speaker 1: up by forty, and I would come in for you know,
Speaker 1: the last offense, a series of the game or defensive
Speaker 1: series whatever. Playing my freshman soft you know, I don't
Speaker 1: think you understand how guilty were. But my junior year,
Speaker 1: whenever I came into the starting role, that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I started to flourish and really show what I
Speaker 1: could do as a quarterback. And I played a little
Speaker 1: bit of defense. But no, I mean it was I
Speaker 1: was a high school kid. It wasn't like the pros
Speaker 1: were like a real thing, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It was like playing high school ball. Like my senior
Speaker 1: year might be the last year I have a play sports.
Speaker 1: So in my mind, it was like, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to have fun. I love playing basketball, continue playing basketball,
Speaker 1: ran track. I played. I just didn't put my senior
Speaker 1: year high school, I didn't play basketball. And that's because
Speaker 1: I had already committed to Kentucky and I was planning
Speaker 1: on training and preparing myself. So whenever summer school started,
Speaker 1: I could go right up and started summer school at
Speaker 1: the end of school year. So talk to me a
Speaker 1: little bit about the decision to go to Kentucky. Is
Speaker 1: that where you felt they wanted you the most or
Speaker 1: what was that opportunity for sure? So that was I
Speaker 1: got offered by Middle Tennessee State University and then I
Speaker 1: got offered by Tucky when the same week. Those were
Speaker 1: my only two offer before my senior year. I committed
Speaker 1: to Kentucky. Fast forward to December, like two weeks before
Speaker 1: State Tennessee office, and I grew up there like you know,
Speaker 1: of course, I can't say that. I never dreamed of
Speaker 1: playing there. Like like I said, I sold hot dogs,
Speaker 1: you know. I I thought that, like that's what was
Speaker 1: going to happen. But again that's when that's when my
Speaker 1: dad played a role. I went over to UT. I
Speaker 1: went to Philip Former's office. He handed me to national
Speaker 1: championship crystal ball and I'm holding it and he's telling
Speaker 1: me how great of a quarterback I am. They're gonna
Speaker 1: change their office for me. Is I'm gonna be the
Speaker 1: the greatest player that ever come to University of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: And we leave there and we get back in the
Speaker 1: car and my dad's like, so, what do you think
Speaker 1: I'm like, what do you team? What do you mean?
Speaker 1: Like I'm getting ready to what kind of question is that?
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, he goes on He's like, well
Speaker 1: if you're if you're this great of a player, then
Speaker 1: you know he has the pastor of house every single
Speaker 1: night on his way home. I was like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: It's like, well, why didn't you ever stop by? You're
Speaker 1: just great of a player and he has all these
Speaker 1: recruits that he goes and business them, and why wouldn't
Speaker 1: he come to you a little sooner if it's great?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? So I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll see what you're saying, like and that that allowed me.
Speaker 1: That was that was the first time that I was like,
Speaker 1: you don't have to listen to what people say. You
Speaker 1: have to see their actions and understand that their actions
Speaker 1: beep louder than their words. Right. So that's why I
Speaker 1: credit so much to my dad because he was there
Speaker 1: to help guide me and kind of showed me what
Speaker 1: was happening. And when when it came to Kentucky, I
Speaker 1: just had so much faith in the coach of staff.
Speaker 1: They have been so honest with me, so forth right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you a chance at quarterback for most like,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna read moved to receiver? You know, so
Speaker 1: I just had a respect for a coaching staff and
Speaker 1: made that decision. That's awesome. Well, I on a personal note,
Speaker 1: as a fan of the University of Georgia, I'm really
Speaker 1: glad you didn't join Philip Falmer Tennessee got those guys
Speaker 1: just always annoyed the hell out of me. I'll be
Speaker 1: honest with you. You do move to receiver your sophomore
Speaker 1: year at Tennessee. Was that tough for you after having
Speaker 1: your hands on the ball on every play? Uh, to
Speaker 1: begin a transition to being a receiver? And and did
Speaker 1: you did you agree with or support that decision? Or
Speaker 1: was that tough for you? It was tough in the beginning.
Speaker 1: I think that's where ego plays a role, right, It's like, no, like,
Speaker 1: this is what I set out to do, this is
Speaker 1: who I am, this is who I know I am,
Speaker 1: I know what I can do, this, I'm going to
Speaker 1: do it. And then you know, again, that's where you
Speaker 1: have people in your life that play a role and
Speaker 1: help me see the bigger picture. And I had a coach,
Speaker 1: my quarterback coach, Randy Sanders. You know, he said to
Speaker 1: me one day, he was like, hey, I want you
Speaker 1: to go look up how many quarterbacks have been drafted
Speaker 1: that's under six feet? You know. So I went and
Speaker 1: looked it up, and remember the name. It was like
Speaker 1: Doug Flooty and a few other guys. I was like,
Speaker 1: footy Breeze probably maybe Breeze says he's six ft. I
Speaker 1: don't know, right, I don't know, but yeah, so I go,
Speaker 1: I go and look that up and then I come
Speaker 1: back to him and I tell him what I found,
Speaker 1: and he says, now, I want you to go look
Speaker 1: up receivers has been drafted on the six foot. I
Speaker 1: go and do that and come back and it's like
Speaker 1: over a hundred guys. And he's like, you could go
Speaker 1: to the NFL, have a team plus your career if
Speaker 1: you make this move. If you do it now, you'll
Speaker 1: be able to learn get crassed for the of what
Speaker 1: you're trying to accomplish. You know, what the what the
Speaker 1: position really means. And I just took that from there
Speaker 1: and it was like, ask you what you're saying. And
Speaker 1: you know, the NFL was always a goal, and uh,
Speaker 1: I think you helped guide me into into making that
Speaker 1: decision a little bit easier. And that was your quarterback coach.
Speaker 1: That's my quarterback coach, Kentucky. Yeah, Randy Sanders, And I
Speaker 1: think that it also was like we had to fourth
Speaker 1: star quarterbacks still there. Like I mean, you threw like
Speaker 1: five you throw five touchdowns as a quarterback, had a
Speaker 1: few inter steps. It's just like so, but we we
Speaker 1: still ran like the wildcat offense and uh you know
Speaker 1: ran the ball at too. So yeah, do you do
Speaker 1: you like that? I mean there's still some plays in
Speaker 1: there for you, even even now where you play where
Speaker 1: you're the wildcat. I did past it was yeah, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: no one you know, run the front of between tackles,
Speaker 1: the kick off. It turns a little different now what
Speaker 1: it was, you know when I first came to leave. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're old. You're not like me. You're aged. I just
Speaker 1: get younger every year. That's the difference. It's crazy in
Speaker 1: my mind, I'm but my body says different. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: that's a crazy thing. I mean, you reference at night
Speaker 1: and I probably met you right then, right pretty shortly
Speaker 1: after you got drafted. That doesn't seem like that long
Speaker 1: ago to me, even now, nine ten years ago. No,
Speaker 1: that was just it was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: Well COVID, maybe it's four years You know, that's crazy. Yes,
Speaker 1: your junior year against the undefeated Auburn Universe City team,
Speaker 1: you score four touchdowns. Is that the game where the
Speaker 1: light switch happens? No, you know, honestly I felt it
Speaker 1: my freshman year playing Georgia. Actually I was Stafford A. J.
Speaker 1: Green No Shan Marino. You know, we were we were
Speaker 1: going we were going back and forth with them, and
Speaker 1: they ended up going up on us late in the
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. I go into quarterback drive down
Speaker 1: the field. Well, what would be putting us in position
Speaker 1: the tide of games? And I had a great game,
Speaker 1: I think I think I had a couple of touchdowns
Speaker 1: that game, but I, you know, fourth quarter, two minute drive,
Speaker 1: take us all the way down the field. We get
Speaker 1: into the red zone and run a screen and I
Speaker 1: can't see over the d live and try to throw
Speaker 1: a screen to the running back and throw a pick
Speaker 1: to the D line. Uh. After that game, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was distraught because I you know, I lost the
Speaker 1: game after an interception the end the game to throw
Speaker 1: us out of possession of winning in my mind after
Speaker 1: that game. So I was like, and I just went
Speaker 1: toe to toe with guys that I know are league, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm playing against NFL caliber players and like I held
Speaker 1: my own. So in my mind, I was like, man,
Speaker 1: this could really be a reality. But any time, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think that was like my motivation was, you know,
Speaker 1: after playing in a game like that against SEC talent,
Speaker 1: you see that talent that you're going to play against
Speaker 1: and know that they're going to league, and it gives
Speaker 1: you confidence. Yeah, and it's it's crazy, he's kind of
Speaker 1: thinking about you, you know, primarily being a quarterback there
Speaker 1: in the beginning. It's really two years. I think that's
Speaker 1: why I was asking about your junior year. You start
Speaker 1: getting a ton of attention and decide to leave college
Speaker 1: early to go to the NFL. All talk to me
Speaker 1: a little bit about that decision. Did you ever consider
Speaker 1: giving it one more go or once you knew you
Speaker 1: had the opportunity, was it was it go time? I did?
Speaker 1: I did? I love kids like I love my time there.
Speaker 1: It went by so fast. I thought about going back,
Speaker 1: but in the end, it was like I gotta make
Speaker 1: a business decision, right, Like I'm twenty years old and
Speaker 1: I just touched the ball in a season probably average
Speaker 1: twenty five touches a game. I was able to stay
Speaker 1: healthy and I'm playing in the SEC where so I
Speaker 1: feel like it's one of the more violent leaves. It's
Speaker 1: really tough on the body. And I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm gonna get this opportunity again.
Speaker 1: And you know what, what more could I do as
Speaker 1: a team. We were losing a lot of players. We
Speaker 1: didn't know who's gonna have moving forward. I had the
Speaker 1: best season that I could have possibly had. I broke
Speaker 1: the SEC record for all perfect yards. I have like
Speaker 1: twenty three hundred yards. That season was like, I really
Speaker 1: don't know what personally I can put myself in a
Speaker 1: player position. And that was kind of the advice that
Speaker 1: I had got from some of the people whenever I
Speaker 1: started talking to agents, and I was kind of it
Speaker 1: for me. It was like, Okay, well, I gotta make
Speaker 1: this decision and make that joke. Right, do you make
Speaker 1: the decision? You declare for the draft, and there's a
Speaker 1: little team in a little town called Green Bay that
Speaker 1: wins the Super Bowl, right, and you you get drafted
Speaker 1: in the second round by the Packers coming off their
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and you know they're gonna be good talk
Speaker 1: to me about that day and finding out that that's
Speaker 1: the team that that that drafted you, ah man, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a crazy experience because I went to New
Speaker 1: York with the draft. I was there. I was there
Speaker 1: for the draft. My agent thought it was a chance
Speaker 1: I could go in the first round. And honestly, it
Speaker 1: was a free trip in New York that my family
Speaker 1: had never been in New York. So I was like
Speaker 1: gold through George, my mom and mom and dad and
Speaker 1: Stepplings and we all went to New York for the draft.
Speaker 1: It was an experience for us as a family. You know,
Speaker 1: they get to get to see the Big Apple, which
Speaker 1: that was everything. It was. It was unbelievable experience. But
Speaker 1: then like when the draft rose around, you know, as
Speaker 1: now it's into the second round, and I thought I
Speaker 1: was going to Baltimore. That was like five picks before
Speaker 1: green Bay, And then I thought I was going to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh was heavy on me right before the draft when
Speaker 1: I was going to business, so I thought I would
Speaker 1: go to Pittsburgh tick before. And then when green Bay called,
Speaker 1: I was just like and shocked because I was like, man,
Speaker 1: like this they just want the super Bowl, like you said, like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to the defending Super Bowl camps, and I
Speaker 1: knew that they were gonna have another great team. I
Speaker 1: was just trying to figure out, Okay, like now what
Speaker 1: is my role? Like we have some really good receivers
Speaker 1: of just like a guy who like what am I
Speaker 1: supposed to do it? Right? So, but whenever, whenever I
Speaker 1: got that call, I was it's no feeling like it
Speaker 1: in the world. Like everything that you've ever worked for
Speaker 1: in the dreams that bad as a kid are actually
Speaker 1: becoming a reality. It's really happy, and you're going to
Speaker 1: one of the most history teams in all the sports.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like had you been? Yeah, you hadn't been
Speaker 1: to Green Bay? Right? No, No, I've never been. Had
Speaker 1: you been even to that area? No? Never I thought
Speaker 1: Green Bay was like you know, I thought it was
Speaker 1: like a New York or a Chicago. It was like
Speaker 1: a million people there. The first time that I actually
Speaker 1: found out was when I was landing in Green Bay. Right.
Speaker 1: So I get drafted and then it's the lockout, so
Speaker 1: like I don't get to there's no off season. We
Speaker 1: go straight into training. So I get a call like
Speaker 1: a Tuesday, like, hey, you gotta be here on Thursday.
Speaker 1: So like I get there, like we're landing, and like
Speaker 1: my first thought was like, how must have got on
Speaker 1: the wrong plane, Like, I'm not a farce. There's no
Speaker 1: way that there's a team. Uh you know, lad get
Speaker 1: off the plane and the rest is history. Yeah, how
Speaker 1: special is that place? The town of cream Bay. No
Speaker 1: place like it, No place like it, live free, eat
Speaker 1: football there. They love their teams, they love supporting their team.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if it's uh charity basketball game, a
Speaker 1: charity softball game, you know, it doesn't matter. They're supporting.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be. There's pack always. You know, if you
Speaker 1: have a charity event, they're they're coming, they're donating, you know.
Speaker 1: And not only just city of Green Bay, but the
Speaker 1: Packer fans in general. Like whenever I travel around the country,
Speaker 1: always it doesn't matter what country I'm in, it'll be
Speaker 1: a Packer fan will come up to the like, I mean, Spain,
Speaker 1: how do you even like, how do you even know?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's nothing like, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have had so many amazing iconic moments for the franchise,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite? I got I got to what she was.
Speaker 1: I want to hear yours. One. I was there. I'm
Speaker 1: sure we talk. I'm sure I hugged you and an
Speaker 1: inappropriately a snug embrace. That one was the Hail Mary
Speaker 1: against the Giants, uh in the in the playoffs, Hail
Speaker 1: Mary at the end of the first half. That really,
Speaker 1: for all intents and purposes, you just sort of felt
Speaker 1: it in the stadium that just kind of took the
Speaker 1: air out of them and ended up having a fairly
Speaker 1: decent win there, that catch, and it was one of
Speaker 1: those I mean, I'm sure you're better at it than
Speaker 1: I am, but I've watched a lot of football, and
Speaker 1: when you're live sometimes you see it happening, you know,
Speaker 1: when you you you see all of the pieces of
Speaker 1: the chessboard happening at one second, and I knew knew
Speaker 1: where he was going. I saw it all. Whether there
Speaker 1: was just i mean just the slightest of push offs,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't care. It was so it
Speaker 1: was that was so great that but by far for
Speaker 1: me the game I remember so well, which was probably
Speaker 1: quite frankly, probably a couple of weeks after the night
Speaker 1: that you referenced you'd been injured, you broke your your leg,
Speaker 1: and Aaron was out with you're out. We're at a
Speaker 1: bar before a game in Green Bay because I had
Speaker 1: planned to go and that game. Actually, I think I
Speaker 1: have pictures of you and Aaron and me on the
Speaker 1: sideline before the game for the only time because neither
Speaker 1: of you were playing. And the last game of the season,
Speaker 1: the Packers against the Bears, the winner goes to the
Speaker 1: playoff and he hits you with about a fifty yard
Speaker 1: forty eights what it says here, but about a fifty
Speaker 1: yard just beautiful past run catch right up the seam
Speaker 1: to win that game. That one, Yeah, that one, I'll
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'll ever forget that one because
Speaker 1: it was just so it was just so sweet, man.
Speaker 1: That was That was a special one. That's that's one.
Speaker 1: That's one B. That one, Okay, that's one B. And
Speaker 1: the only reason is be is because one A my
Speaker 1: first game coming out of the the lockout, first game back
Speaker 1: football Saints, first Packers is the last two champions, Packers
Speaker 1: one of the year four year before that, and it's
Speaker 1: my first game in the NFL ever and ever catch
Speaker 1: a touchdown and then I had kick off return that
Speaker 1: tied the record at the time, and like it was
Speaker 1: just so surreal, right, like everything that had happened up
Speaker 1: until that point. I thought I was getting cut in
Speaker 1: training because like I got like a thy contusion because
Speaker 1: just a few days of practice, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm get really get cut and then I make the
Speaker 1: team and then that happens, right, So it was just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just like this coming out party from me
Speaker 1: and this like moment that it was like you can
Speaker 1: really do this, like not like you just made it
Speaker 1: to the NFL, like you can you can be a
Speaker 1: difference maker, you know what I mean. So that for me,
Speaker 1: that was like a personal moment that was just like
Speaker 1: solidified that I was right where I was supposed to be. Uh.
Speaker 1: So that that's why it's one eight for me and
Speaker 1: then one be Like you said the game in Chicago,
Speaker 1: I was coming off of a broken leg that missed
Speaker 1: ten weeks that season and before I get hurt, Before
Speaker 1: I get hurt that season, like I was on page
Speaker 1: for most fourteen hundred yards until I touchdowns. That's what
Speaker 1: I was on paste for before I've heard uh. And
Speaker 1: that's my third year and then I get hurt and
Speaker 1: I remember the locker room this time for the game, right,
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I hope I'm still the same
Speaker 1: player that I loved before. And then I ended up
Speaker 1: with a couple of touchdowns in that game and having
Speaker 1: that play that sent us to the playoffs obviously, and
Speaker 1: had missed most of that season. I had missed most
Speaker 1: of that season. And for us to have that connection,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a special thing about sports, right,
Speaker 1: we have these moments in time that we all have
Speaker 1: a different perspective of how it happened and seeing it
Speaker 1: from a different land and being able to be a
Speaker 1: part of that. Emmy Packer fan, that's like one thing
Speaker 1: that they always read up. Yeah, yeah, that's that's so awesome.
Speaker 1: You know, it occurs to me. It occurs to me now.
Speaker 1: The lockout. I had forgotten about the lockout and the
Speaker 1: fact that the lockout happened, and the fact that in
Speaker 1: that first game the only game on no one else
Speaker 1: is watching anything but that, and that Erin trusted you
Speaker 1: enough to throw you the ball. I mean that that
Speaker 1: that you had already. I'm not talking shit about you
Speaker 1: know the story behind that, right, No, tell me so
Speaker 1: on the play that he throws it for me. I
Speaker 1: was I was actually my second catch of the game
Speaker 1: on that play, my first ever touchdown in the NFL
Speaker 1: from Aaron Rodgers. He checks the play, and he checks
Speaker 1: the play to where I'm supposed to run a flat
Speaker 1: route to the sideline James Shawn's is supposed to run
Speaker 1: a slant. It's a simple check. It's a simple concept.
Speaker 1: But like in my mind, he gave the signal and
Speaker 1: I thought the signal was like, it's a slant and
Speaker 1: a flat. So in my mind, I was thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: he's giving me the slant. He wants me to run
Speaker 1: a splint right now. So I run the slant under
Speaker 1: own route just happened to be open. He sees the
Speaker 1: open grows, I'll make a guy missed before staving in.
Speaker 1: So I have absolutely no idea. I'm thinking, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like me and him are like this, like I'm here
Speaker 1: with you. Uh. It wasn't until I got back to
Speaker 1: the sidelines and I found out all route. Yeah, did
Speaker 1: you get a pound on the back at least? Or
Speaker 1: did you just get chewed out for running the wrong route? No,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta pat on the back. I got
Speaker 1: a pat on the back, and uh he was. He
Speaker 1: was like, hey, we got a joke. From from that
Speaker 1: point on, and it's always like, hey, run the wrong
Speaker 1: route and get the ball until that pick comes right
Speaker 1: over the middle and then you're in big drum. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, I gotta bring it up. In twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: you leave for the Cowboys. How was that? Were you
Speaker 1: excited for a new opportunity in a new place or
Speaker 1: was that was that really difficult for you? Uh? Well, first,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna say it, leaving wasn't. My contract was
Speaker 1: up and it didn't get renewed or I didn't get
Speaker 1: another offer, so it wasn't. I was like, okay, Well
Speaker 1: free agency comes around and I don't hear anything from anybody,
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, is this is this? How
Speaker 1: it all? It's for me? And then uh the Cowboys called.
Speaker 1: I was like, man, okay, let's do this. They just
Speaker 1: came off a playoff run. They got to mar It's
Speaker 1: some opportunity for me. Good team, good scene. I was excited.
Speaker 1: I think be hindsight, looking back on it, it was
Speaker 1: the best thing that could happen from my career at
Speaker 1: that time because I had been in Green Bay so
Speaker 1: long that I think going somewhere else rejuvenated me and
Speaker 1: gave me a different challenge, right because when you do
Speaker 1: something for so long, it becomes kind of mundane, right,
Speaker 1: Like that's just kind of what it is. And it's
Speaker 1: like everybody knows who did, who you are, what you
Speaker 1: what you do. And I had to rebuild all that
Speaker 1: I had to. I had to show my teammates like, okay,
Speaker 1: like who is Randall cop? Who was who is this
Speaker 1: guy that's coming in? So I had to earn my
Speaker 1: teammates trust, I had to show the coaches what I
Speaker 1: could do. Every day. It was like a proved type
Speaker 1: of day for me. And you know, I think I
Speaker 1: think that was something that kind of kick started the
Speaker 1: second part of my career. You know, I loved my
Speaker 1: time to that. Was had a great time. Uh. Coach
Speaker 1: Garrett was great. I really enjoyed the time with him.
Speaker 1: The Jones family nothing but loved and respect for you know.
Speaker 1: They they took me in and want to cowboy all
Speaker 1: the cowboys what they say, and I'm very fortunate for
Speaker 1: what opportunity they gave me down there. Tell them more
Speaker 1: excellent play caller. I loved him. I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a great head coach one day. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: was that was a fun year. That's awesome. We didn't
Speaker 1: we didn't win. We didn't win, we didn't make it playoffs.
Speaker 1: But it was a fun year. Yeah. I I had
Speaker 1: not heard that from you before that that you know
Speaker 1: that that rejuvenated you. And that totally makes sense, right.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a change of environment, a new system.
Speaker 1: You have to be adaptable and and changeable, and I
Speaker 1: can understand how that gives you a renewed energy. You
Speaker 1: go to Houston and then you get a call from
Speaker 1: the packers about coming back to join them. Talk to
Speaker 1: me a little bit about that. And the decision to go, well,
Speaker 1: i'll call it home. The decision to go home, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: to come back to come back where it all started again,
Speaker 1: that wasn't a decision for me. It wasn't It wasn't
Speaker 1: an option. I got traded and it was the biggest
Speaker 1: blessing that I could I had the year that I
Speaker 1: had in used to like all of us during COVID
Speaker 1: that first year, we were all going to stuff right,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that was in a great place.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a It wasn't the environment that I thought
Speaker 1: it was going to be. You know, it wasn't. It
Speaker 1: wasn't what I what I thought that I was walking
Speaker 1: through too, And uh, it was difficult. I had a
Speaker 1: lot of tough talks with my wife about it, and
Speaker 1: I honestly thought about retiring after that season. So I
Speaker 1: was like, I just don't. I don't love the game anymore.
Speaker 1: It wasn't fun. It was like nothing about it was fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that was that was very a very difficult place.
Speaker 1: But we we actually played the Packers that season when
Speaker 1: I was in US. Was actually when I was in
Speaker 1: Dallas and played Packers and was used to play back up.
Speaker 1: But I remember before that game it was like right
Speaker 1: before the trade deadline what we played the pacts, and
Speaker 1: I remember going out for warm up is just like
Speaker 1: trying to go with everybody like please come get me, please,
Speaker 1: somebody I was going to like I would have to,
Speaker 1: like Mark Murphy like please, like I let's go up
Speaker 1: to groop everybody. Uh obviously like we can't. They couldn't
Speaker 1: do anything about that, but uh yeah, it all ended
Speaker 1: up working out in and I was able to come
Speaker 1: back last year. Then I loved enough here. I love
Speaker 1: planning for this organization and and representing recundation, And like
Speaker 1: I said, it's a special places, a special bond that
Speaker 1: you have, and you know, I've been going away for
Speaker 1: a couple of years. Just made me realize even more
Speaker 1: what it meant to be a part of this organisation. Yeah. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people missed you when you
Speaker 1: left and are glad that you're back. I am hoping
Speaker 1: and praying for you and the Packers that that you
Speaker 1: have just an absolutely awesome year. I Uh. I know
Speaker 1: last year ended not the way everybody wanted it too.
Speaker 1: But this year, I'm I'm optimistic and I'm ready. I'm excited.
Speaker 1: Good you are, You're excited, You're ready. I'm excited for sure.
Speaker 1: Now it's gonna be It's gonna be a fun year,
Speaker 1: you know. I think it's it's gonna be some different
Speaker 1: challenges for us, but I'm excited about it. I think
Speaker 1: that it could be for the better. Our defense completely
Speaker 1: stacked going into this season. You look at every level
Speaker 1: of our defense and you just got to play makers,
Speaker 1: you know, from from from Kenny and the rookie we
Speaker 1: just drafted on the behind and the guys rotating in
Speaker 1: their custon you know, coming back University of Georgia, Yeah,
Speaker 1: basically Georgia North. Yeah, so we we got We've got
Speaker 1: some guys in our defense. We got Aaron Jones and
Speaker 1: j Tilling is gonna carry the low for us in
Speaker 1: the backfield. And any time you got to well, you
Speaker 1: get the opportunity. And what I've seen from a couple
Speaker 1: of our rookies and from our receiver business off season,
Speaker 1: I think we'll be in a good place. I'm confident
Speaker 1: and in that and I think for our offense, it'll
Speaker 1: it'll be great because you'll have so many guys that's
Speaker 1: getting involved. You have see me that's coming in, Kemmy
Speaker 1: Watkins and Alan coming back. AMR who's made some strides
Speaker 1: this off season. I can't wait to see, you know,
Speaker 1: what what happens with his career as this year goes on,
Speaker 1: and the opportunity he said he's gonna get, you know,
Speaker 1: And I'm really just trying to make sure that I
Speaker 1: helped those guys understand what's in front of him. After
Speaker 1: the career that I've had and the ups and downs
Speaker 1: that I've went through, the valleys that I've I've been
Speaker 1: in and the mountain peaks that I've touched, being able
Speaker 1: to pass on the wisdom and learn have helped them
Speaker 1: learn from the mistakes that I may have made my
Speaker 1: earlier career and just see the big picture and understand
Speaker 1: that we're we're all instead of puzzle. That's the that's
Speaker 1: the the special thing about football is like, it don't
Speaker 1: matter how good when person is, like, they can't go
Speaker 1: by themselves. You know, even as great as Aaron is, Like,
Speaker 1: you gotta have an offensive line protecting. You gotta have
Speaker 1: receivers that catch the ball. That's right. You can't you
Speaker 1: can't just throw Joe Smoke from Westford University out there
Speaker 1: inspected that he's gonna make plays against plow corners, against
Speaker 1: Jalen Ramses, you know, and and all these guys like,
Speaker 1: we're still guys, we're still pros that you know can
Speaker 1: get it done. So I look forward to the seeing
Speaker 1: all those young guys coming to their own and myself
Speaker 1: included being able to um make some plays and be
Speaker 1: a piece at that puzzle and help put it all together. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: you're truly one of the good guys. Like and I
Speaker 1: mean that, I mean that sincerely. I respect you as
Speaker 1: a person. I loved hearing your story today and your transition,
Speaker 1: your decision to choose longevity and an amazing career. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on and uh and talking
Speaker 1: to me and to us and uh yeah uh go
Speaker 1: pack go. Thanks Randolph Man. I appreciate all right. I'll
Speaker 1: say it again. I'll say it a thousand times. Go
Speaker 1: Pack go. Thank you Randall for joining me. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: see you in Green Bay here in just a few months.
Speaker 1: Have an amazing season. I know you will. As always, listeners,
Speaker 1: if you like what you've heard, be sure to like
Speaker 1: and subscribe, leave us comments or reviews, and then, more importantly,
Speaker 1: come back next week for another exciting, in depth conversation
Speaker 1: with someone very special. Off the Beat is hosted an
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and
Speaker 1: Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
Speaker 1: our intern is Sammy Katz. Our theme song Bubble and
Speaker 1: Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bretton and the
Speaker 1: episode was mixed by Seth O'landskip