Former Bears running back and returner Tarik Cohen will get another shot, this time with the Jets and Aaron Rodgers.
The Jets signed Cohen, who hasn’t played since suffering a massive knee injury during a game in 2020, to a one-year contract. Coach Robert Saleh described him Wednesday as “an explosive playmaker who is starting to get back healthy,” and said the NFL’s new kickoff format could provide him a great opportunity.
Kickoffs were redesigned this offseason to increase the number of returns, and Saleh said in his comments about Cohen he anticipates a kick returner getting 100-plus touches this season.
Cohen specialized in punt returns, but occasionally returned kicks for the Bears as well.
If he makes the roster in September, he would be part of one of the NFL’s biggest storylines. The Jets are one of the highest-profile teams with Rodgers returning from a torn Achilles and Saleh appearing to be in a make-or-break season.
He’d face a steep climb on the depth chart at running back behind Breece Hall, fourth-round pick Braelon Allen and others.
Cohen, turning 29 this summer, was one of the league’s most dynamic players in 2018 with a combined 1,169 yards and eight touchdowns as a runner and receiver. He also was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl punt returner that season.
It has been a brutal road since. His production plunged in 2019, and as he tried to turn it around in ’20, he tore his ACL and MCL in Week 3 when ex-Bear Kindle Vildor pushed Falcons player Brian Hill into him on a fair catch. Fortunately for Cohen, he signed a three-year, $17.3 million contract extension a week before the game.
Cohen missed the rest of that season and the next while rehabbing the injury, and the Bears released him. Soon after, he tore his Achilles tendon during a workout he livestreamed on Instagram.
He also endured staggering heartbreak with both of his brothers dying in 2021 and ’22.
The Panthers gave Cohen a chance on their practice squad last season, but he missed time with a hamstring injury and never got promoted to the active roster.
Cohen was one of the most popular Bears during his four seasons and one of their best draft picks in recent history. After they drafted him in the fourth-round out of North Carolina A&T, he put up 2,676 yards and 14 touchdowns on offense and one punt return for a touchdown.
