The Bears announced that they have placed Tarik Cohen on the Physically Unable to Perform list. It’s a sign that the running back may be behind schedule as he looks to recover from last year’s ACL injury. 
At this rate, it doesn’t sound like the Bears should expect to have Cohen for Week 1. Cohen, who turns 26 on Monday, has spent his entire career in Chicago. That includes his 2018, a season with 1,169 yards from scrimmage, eight touchdowns, and tons of highlights as a returner. He led the league with 411 punt return yards in ’18, capturing All-Pro and Pro Bowl nods.
Things haven’t been quite the same since. Cohen started a career-high 11 games in 2019, but he was limited to just 669 yards from scrimmage. Last year he limited by the ACL, but he ceded the top job to David Montgomery before the injury even happened.
Cohen is still an important part of the Bears’ offense, so they want him on the field and healthy ASAP. Beyond that, there are also some financial considerations — it’s been less than a year since he signed his three-year, $17.25MM extension.
If Cohen misses time, the Bears will open the year with Damien Williams, Ryan Nall, Artavis Pierce, and rookies Khalil Herbert and CJ Marable behind Montgomery.
Other than the one good season, he’s done nothing remarkable. Nagy couldn’t come up with a way to use him right and then of course, up steps Pace to sign him to a new deal? But hey, don’t sign Robinson.
I don’t want to defend Pace but there’s a big difference between committing 5MM per year for Cohen and 18MM per year to Robinson. Bears are currently 24th in cap space so that limits their options quite a bit.
I will just say that the Vikings were dead last in cap space going into the off-season and they have resigned Hunter and others as well as added a bunch of quality free agents so there are always creative ways to navigate the cap to keep you best players.
I don’t think the Vikings are a particularly good example. They had their own elite WR in Diggs and decided to trade him rather than pay the price to keep him.
I just think Pace has a history of overpaying the wrong people. And in the case of Robinson, he could’ve done a better job preparing for this inevitability by not throwing money at a far less important piece like Cohen and overpaying for guys like Foles and Graham.
The good news is that Pace will likely be replaced after this season. The few things he got right don’t come close to offsetting all the mistakes he made.