Bears running back Tarik Cohen missed most of the 2020 campaign after suffering a torn ACL, and it sounds like the veteran still hasn’t fully recovered from his injury. Per Adam H. Beasley of ProFootballNetwork.com, Cohen is a candidate to open training camp on the PUP, and the delayed start to his preseason could impact his availability for the beginning of the regular season.
The 2017 fourth-round pick has spent his entire career in Chicago. This included a 2018 campaign where he finished with 1,169 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns, although it was his returning prowess (a league-leading 411 punt return yards) that earned him both an All-Pro and Pro Bowl nod. Cohen started a career-high 11 games in 2019, but he was limited to a (then) career-low 669 yards from scrimmage.
The 25-year-old didn’t start any of the Bears’ first three games of the 2020 season, with the running back collecting only 115 offensive yards. He suffered his ACL injury in Week 3 and was subsequently placed on IR.
Cohen is still an important part of the Bears’ offense, and if the team wants to make noise in the NFC, they’ll surely want one of their top skill players to be healthy. Further, the team also has some financial reasons for wanting Cohen on the field; it’s been less than a year since he signed a three-year, $17.25MM extension that will kick in this season.
Fortunately for the Bears, the team does have some depth to overcome a hypothetical Cohen absence. David Montgomery is still sitting atop the depth chart, and the team also added veteran free agent Damien Williams this past offseason. The team is also rostering the likes of Ryan Nall, Artavis Pierce, and rookies Khalil Herbert and CJ Marable.
Cohen is a nice gadget player and a good returner but “an important part of the bears offense” he is not, he’s a 3rd down back who can line up in the slot and win with quickness but he’s 8 inches shorter than me and 40 pounds lighter, and if an nfl defensive tackle hit me I would literally die I can only imagine his body only breaks down further
The difference between you and Tarik is a cheeseburger diet
2017 – #2 in targets, #2 in receptions, #3 in receiving yards, #2 in total TD’s
2018 – #3 in targets, #1 in receptions, #2 in receiving yards, #3 in receiving TD’s, #2 in total TD’s
2019 – #2 in targets, #2 in receptions, #3 in receiving yards, #3 in receiving TD’s, #4 in total TD’s
Those rankings say to me that Cohen IS “an important part of the Bears’ offense,” unless his role is going to be substantially changed. Maybe the first three games of the 2020 season presaged that, but if their plan has been to use him the way they did his first three years in the league, than he’ll probably again be “an important part of the Bears’ offense.”
Maybe the Bears should be making Cohen the starter over Dalton. Tarik has a 127.8 passer rating and has never been sacked or intercepted.
Why are you making such a deal over how many games he started?
Starts for a 3rd-down back/slot receiver are completely meaningless. What was his snap rate?
Cohen snap count rates:
2017 – 35% of offensive snaps
2018 – 46%
2019 – 50%
2020 – 46% in Game 1, 32% in both Games 2 and 3, though his targets were two, one and six, respectively.