I don't really care what the depth chart says. If a TE lines up in the slot or as a wideout 1/2 the time, he's a wide receiver for those snaps. If it lines up like a duck and runs the routes of a duck, then it's a duck.
As for Cook's drops and blocking ability, I think both are based primarily on PFF stats that have entered the echo chamber, along with one wide open end zone drop as the #1 link in a google search on "Jared Cook drops".
PFF scolded him for 8 drops in 2015. However, Sporting Charts charged him with 4, Fox Sports shows 4. It reminds me of the Finley debate, and Finley is the dynamic that the Packers want to recreate. Whether he catches 87% or 95% of catchable balls, he'll need to be accounted for. Rodgers is a guy you could cover with a LB, and a slow one at that.
I'll go a step further. In 2014, Faster Eddie was developing into a receiving threat that needed to be accounted for. In 2015, with Fat Eddie, not so much. There's nowhere to go but up on that count.
In the absence of other information, I share your default to Cook's favorable PFF blocking grade. But it's worth noting that with less than elite players, PFF often shoots them to the top of their grades one year and to the bottom the next. I'll reserve judgment until he actually shows what he can do in this offense with these players next to him.
Getting back to the original point, by the mere fact we're having this discussion is evidence of the fact that writer was mailing it in and presumably getting paid to do so.
