Tarik Cohen Needs Quick Reset to 2018 Form
If any one healthy player typified the consistency troubles suffered by the Bears on offense this season, it's running back Tarik Cohen.
With eight more receptions in 2019 than in 2018, he gained 269 fewer yards. Cohen had an off year any way you cut it or whoever you blame.
He had six dropped passes according to STATS Inc., the fourth most in the league. Another stat service gave him nine drops. And his yards after the catch nosedived from 7.3 per catch for 520 total yards in 2018 to 5.4 per catch with 429 total yards.
The Bears definitely aren't giving up on Cohen, as he enters a contract year.
"He's a dynamic player in so many areas: run game, pass game, return game," Bears general manager Ryan Pace said. "Tarik, we all talked (Monday), too, I think Tarik wants to be better. Tarik knows what he can provide to this offense."
Cohen is one of the "adjusters" in Nagy's offense. It wasn't a good year for the adjusters. U-tight end Trey Burton is another one whose position requires moving all around the field as an adjuster. He barely got on the field due to injuries.
Another adjuster was Cordarrelle Patterson, but they barely scratched the surface for Patterson with 11 receptions and 17 rushing attempts.
Nagy during the final week of the season acknowledged some of Cohen's troubles stemmed from the problems the Bears were going through keeping tight ends healthy, particularly Burton.
"It’s the domino effect, so yeah," Nagy said. "You have a little bit of that. There’s other factors, too, that go into it. Whether it’s ... there’s a lot of different things. I’ll just leave it at that."
It also seemed Nagy struggled to find ways to balance out the plays for Patterson with Cohen's and the conventional rushing attack of David Montgomery.
In general, the offense has struggled to achieve yards after the catch since Nagy arrived. They were 28th this year with 1,619, or 101 yards a game. Last year they were even worse by 26 yards but were much better at getting it to Cohen in open space where he could run after he made the reception.
"Again, I don't think it's one player," Pace said. "I think we took a step back in a lot of areas. I think Tarik can be better. I think he knows he can be better.
"He's a huge part of our offense, a huge part of what we want to do going forward. We expect a better performance from him next year."
Cohen definitely has the incentive with a contract year next year. The real issue then will be how much value do the Bears put on a running back who is a receiver, or is he a receiver who is a running back?
Duke Johnson performs a somewhat similar role and got three years averaging $5.2 million from the Texans. Johnson had the 10th highest average earnings of all backs last year.
With a bit of a twinkle in his eye, and after the team had been lining him up in the slot a good deal more than in the backfield, Cohen during the 2019 season called himself a wide receiver.
There were 45 wide receivers in the league who earned more per year in 2019 than Johnson did.
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