Getty Running back and All-Pro punt returner Tarik Cohen hasn't played since Week 3 of 2020.
Back in 2018, Chicago Bears running back and punt returner Tarik Cohen was one of the most exciting playmakers in the game.
Cohen was named a first-team All-Pro as a punt returner that year, and he established himself as one of the more promising gadget backs in the league. He finished with 99 carries for 444 rushing yards and three touchdowns while also catching 71 passes for 725 yards and five receiving TDs.
He didn’t fare as well in 2019, rushing for 213 yards on 64 carries with no rushing scores. He added 79 catches for 456 yards and three touchdowns through the air, but it was his 2020 campaign that turned out to be the fateful one.
During Chicago’s Week 3 contest against the Atlanta Falcons, Cohen suffered a torn ACL while calling a fair catch on a punt. He hasn’t played since — and some think the Bears may be better off cutting ties with the running back to clear some cap space.
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Cohen Carries a Cap Hit of $5.75 Million in 2022
In his February 2 column for Bleacher Report, Jake Rill listed multiple contracts the Bears should cut heading into the 2022 season — and Cohen was the only All-Pro on the list, which also included nose tackle Eddie Goldman and veteran linebacker Danny Trevathan.
“Tarik Cohen played only three games during the 2020 season before suffering a torn ACL, and he never made it back for the Bears during the 2021 campaign. Before that, he had been a valuable receiving back who was a key contributor in Chicago’s offense,” Rill wrote, before laying out the mostly financial reasons the Bears should sever ties with Cohen:
With Cohen out in 2021, the Bears had no trouble keeping the running game moving. David Montgomery is the clear top back and among the best RBs in the league, while Khalil Herbert had a solid rookie season that proved he could be a factor in the years to come. Cohen still has two years remaining on his contract, and he will have a $5.75 million cap hit in 2022. Even if the 26-year-old gets back on the field, it’s unknown whether he will be as effective. … Perhaps they will consider parting ways with him and using that cap space to address another area on their team.
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New Bears Regime Will Likely Be Looking to Add New Faces
The Bears will likely be looking to free up cap space to add some key free agents this offseason, and based on what new Bears general manager Ryan Poles said in his introductory press conference, that’s something the team plans on doing.
“It’s exciting because you have the ability to create that core pretty fast,” Poles said on January 31, adding:
“The challenge becomes when you don’t have a lot of draft picks. It’s hard to do that. We’re going to have to be strategic with, again, free agency, going to that second and third wave of free agency, shorter contracts to supplement the roster as we start to add more draft picks. And if there are opportunities to get more draft picks with trades of players or going up or down, then that’s great. We have to take it one step at a time to know where the value is with each year. It may not make sense this year.”
The Bears have $30 million in available cap space and just five draft picks in the upcoming draft, with their first overall pick in the second round at No. 39, so some big cuts will be coming. Will Cohen be one of them? Considering his recent inability to get back onto the field, that’s a very likely scenario.
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