Chicago Bears: The team could cheaply re-sign this player
The Chicago Bears could cheaply re-sign Tarik Cohen in 2021
The Chicago Bears, depending on the season, might be able to re-sign Tarik Cohen on a huge team-friendly discount. Tarik Cohen views himself as a do-everything back. He sees that so much that he doesn’t even classify himself as a running back.
One of the reasons Matt Nagy choose the Chicago Bears was Tarik Cohen. It is rumored that only one team, the New Orleans Saints, would be interested in Cohen’s work after this season. Cohen had a down year in 2019 after having a very productive season in 2018, much like every Chicago Bear.
The 2021 NFL free agent list of running backs according to Sportrac include:
- Kenyan Drake
- Leonard Fournette
- Todd Gurley
- Tevin Coleman
- James White
- Matt Breida
- Kareem Hunt
- T.J. Yeldon
- Dalvin Cook
- Chris Thompson
- Joe Mixon
- Dwayne Washington
- Alvin Kamara
- Corey Clement
- James Conner
- Jamaal Williams
- Marlon Mack
- Samaje Perine
- Aaron Jones
- Christopher Carson
- Phillip Lindsay
- Justin Jackson
And so many more. This list should scare running backs that aren’t the top names. The Chicago Bears could quickly move on if needed. They could also lock in a solid player pending this next season to a multi-year deal that could help them save a lot of money as well.
Could Tarik Cohen return to his 2018 form?
I wouldn’t expect Cohen to play as he did in 2018 every season, but he should be somewhere between the 2018 and 2019 NFL season. Cohen is a genuine mismatch player that can take the ball the distance at any point.
He admitted that he might have been out of stamina for the first time in his football career last year and needed to work on more calisthenics and stretching to make sure he is fresh towards the end of the NFL season. Cohen also shared that he ran side to side way too much to try and make something out of nothing.
The rare sight of seeing Cohen drop passes this past season almost made me spit out my beer. Hopefully, coach Matt Nagy gets back to using Cohen sparingly on offense, in a role that fits Cohen properly yet allows him to shine on special teams.
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I am still upset with how Anthony Miller was placed as kick returner instead of Cohen during a game last season when Cordarrelle Patterson was unavailable to do his duty. Cohen averaged 22.4 yards per return his rookie year as a kick returner. That isn’t as good as Patterson as his average is 29.9 on his career, but that is more than enough to be the backup return man and give him more touches when needed.