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Tarik Cohen

RB Tarik Cohen Retires

August 1st, 2024 at 10:32am CST by Adam La Rose

Tarik Cohen‘s 2024 comeback bid has fallen short. The veteran running back informed the Jets on Thursday that he is retiring, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.

Cohen had a successful stint with the Bears to begin his career. The former fourth-rounder made an immediate impact in the return game during his rookie season, totaling 1,578 return yards. The following year, he earned a Pro Bowl nod and first-team All-Pro acclaim for his abilities as a punt returner. Injuries have derailed his ability to remain a strong third phase contributor and to return to action, however.

An ACL tear suffered in 2020 limited Cohen to just three game that year, and he has not managed to make a regular season appearance since then. The 29-year-old appeared set for a return to action in 2022, but a torn Achilles set him back in that regard once again. Cohen saw time on the Panthers’ practice squad last year before he took a deal with the Jets in May.

That pact was aimed at allowing him to thrive once more as a returner. The NFL’s new kickoff rules are expected to increase the rate of runbacks, and a number of teams have made free agent additions with that in mind. Instead of continuing to vie for the return job in New York, Cohen will hang up his cleats. The Jets primarily used Xavier Gipson as their returner last season, and today’s news means he could remain in that role for the 2024 season.

Cohen’s NFL career will come to an end after 52 combined regular and postseason appearances. Thanks in large part to the Bears extension he signed in 2020, his career earnings stand at roughly $14.7MM. The 2024 campaign could have offered the opportunity to land a roster spot with the Jets or, later, another team. In the wake of his injuries, however, Cohen will now turn his attention to his post-playing days.

Jets To Bring In RB Tarik Cohen

May 29th, 2024 at 10:25am CST by Sam Robinson

Injuries stalled Tarik Cohen‘s career early in the 2020s. The former Bears running back and Pro Bowl return man managed a comeback opportunity with the Panthers last year, but the team ended that bid recently. The Jets will now take a flier.

Cohen is heading to New York on a one-year agreement, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. This comes after the Panthers cut him earlier this month. Robert Saleh confirmed the deal, and the fourth-year Jets HC (via SNY’s Connor Hughes) pointed to the new kickoff rules when discussing Cohen.

With the NFL greenlighting an experiment that will reintroduce the kick return to prominence, some teams are making notable additions in preparation. The Steelers brought in Cordarrelle Patterson hours after owners approved the one-year trial for the XFL-style kickoff, and the Seahawks added Laviska Shenault Jr. with a return role in mind. Cohen has contributed on offense, but his best NFL work has come in the return game.

Cohen, 28, led the NFL in punt-return yardage in 2018, earning first-team All-Pro acclaim, and returned a punt for a touchdown as a rookie a year prior. The bulk of Cohen’s return experience has come on punts, however. The Bears removed the 5-foot-7 back from the kick-return role after his rookie season. Of course, Chicago rostered Patterson from 2019-20. Ceding a job to one of the best kick returners in NFL history did not prove detrimental for Cohen, who signed a three-year, $17.25MM extension in 2020.

Although the Panthers stashed Cohen on their practice squad last year, injury trouble — which initially cropped up not long after his extension came to pass — resurfaced. Cohen spent several weeks on Carolina’s practice squad injured list. The North Carolina A&T alum has not played in a game since the 2020 season; Cohen suffered a torn ACL in September 2020 and missed the 2021 season as well. Shortly after being released in 2022, Cohen sustained an Achilles tear.

The Jets used UDFA Xavier Gipson as their primary return man last year. That fit produced one of the most memorable special teams moments in team history, via the walk-off Week 1 punt return. Saleh confirmed Gipson remains the frontrunner for the kick-return role. Seeing as nearly four years have passed since Cohen’s last game action, the small-school product is running out of chances. But the Jets, who will have 16 practice squad spots in addition to their 53-man roster, will see what the former Bears standout has left.

Minor NFL Transactions: 5/10/24

May 10th, 2024 at 6:54pm CST by Ely Allen

Friday’s minor transactions as we head into the weekend:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

  • Deemed international roster exemption: T Travis Clayton

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

Cohen hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since his time in Chicago, where he earned first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors as a punt returner, ended in 2020. The North Carolina A&T product had been part of an effective 1-2 punch with Jordan Howard but saw his role diminish with the arrival of David Montgomery in 2019. Since then, injuries have limited the explosive rusher’s ability to make an impact.

NFL Reserve/Futures Deals: 1/8/24

January 8th, 2024 at 9:24pm CST by Ben Levine

Many teams have started signing players to reserve/futures contracts, allowing organization to retain (routinely) young, practice squad players. Here are the latest reserve/futures contracts:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • OL Barry Wesley

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

  • LB Brandon Bouyer-Randle, WR Davion Davis, CB D’Angelo Mandell

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/27/23

December 27th, 2023 at 6:58pm CST by Ely Allen

Here are today’s post-holiday practice squad adjustments:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Chargers

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Activated from practice squad IR: LB Levi Bell

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/6/23

November 6th, 2023 at 7:58pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Las Vegas Raiders

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Signed: OL Jacob Hanson
  • Released: OL Jason Poe

San Francisco 49ers

  • Signed: OL Henry Byrd 

Tarik Cohen Expected To Sign With Panthers Practice Squad

September 12th, 2023 at 9:12pm CST by Ben Levine

Tarik Cohen is on the comeback trail. The veteran running back intends to sign with the Panthers practice squad, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Jordan Schultz was first with the news. Joe Person of The Athletic notes that Cohen will sign assuming he passes his physical tomorrow.

Cohen hasn’t seen the field for an NFL game since the 2020 campaign, when he tore his ACL and MCL and fractured his tibial plateau during Week 3. He spent the subsequent 2021 season on PUP before hitting free agency in 2022. While training last May, Cohen ruptured his Achilles tendon, delaying his comeback another year. Last month, the RB indicated that he was ready to continue his NFL career, and the Panthers are the team to give him the shot.

It didn’t take long for the former fourth-round pick to emerge as a productive offensive weapon. Following a rookie season where he collected more than 700 yards from scrimmage, Cohen earned an All-Pro nod with the Bears in 2018 after finishing with 1,169 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns. Cohen was also a standout on special teams that season, leading the NFL with 411 punt return yards.

His yards-per-touch dropped to 4.7 during the 2019 campaign, but Cohen still managed to produce 669 yards from scrimmage. The Bears ended up rewarding him for his three productive years, signing the RB to a three-year, $17.25MM deal prior to the 2020 campaign. Cohen boosted that aforementioned yards-per-touch number to 5.8 in the first two-plus games of the 2020 campaign before suffering his career-altering injury.

In Carolina, he’ll be joining a backfield that’s still finding itself in a post-Christian McCaffrey era. The Panthers handed out one of free agency’s largest RB contracts when they inked Miles Sanders to a four-year, $25.4MM deal. The team also still has Chuba Hubbard as their top backup, but they lack experienced depth behind their top duo. Former UDFA Raheem Blackshear is on the active roster, while Spencer Brown and Jashaun Corbin are stashed on the practice squad.

RB Rumors: Cowboys, Eagles, Mattison

August 25th, 2023 at 5:52pm CST by Sam Robinson

Letting Ezekiel Elliott sign with the Patriots and not making a known entrance into the Jonathan Taylor sweepstakes, the Cowboys are still planning to give one of their in-house running backs the backup job to Tony Pollard. Last year’s third-stringer behind Elliott and Pollard, Malik Davis, may be fighting an uphill battle to merely make Dallas’ 53-man roster. With Rico Dowdle the favorite to be Pollard’s top backup, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill notes Davis may be facing a cut. Dowdle and elusive rookie Deuce Vaughn have outplayed Davis during camp, per Hill, with the latter — a 5-foot-5 sixth-rounder out of Kansas State — flashing in games. Vaughn starred with the Wildcats for three seasons, excelling as both a runner and receiver, and continues to make a case for a role on offense.

Dowdle arrived in the NFL as a 2020 UDFA; Davis joined the Cowboys as a UDFA last year. Dowdle has not logged a regular-season carry since 2020, but it looks like the South Carolina product is poised to change that pattern this season. Here is the latest from the running back scene:

  • The Eagles have a deeper cast of running backs, at least in terms of experience. Philly added both Rashaad Penny and D’Andre Swift this offseason, and Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott are on track to maintain roles in the defending NFC champions’ crowded backfield. This leaves Trey Sermon as the likeliest odd man out, per The Athletic’s Zach Berman (subscription required). The Eagles added Sermon, a 2021 third-round pick, following his 49ers cut last year but only used him in two games. Sermon could be a practice squad option; he spent much of his first Eagles year as part of that 16-man unit. But the Eagles’ present backfield configuration adds another hurdle for a player once projected to be the 49ers’ Week 1 starter.
  • The Vikings guaranteed 90.7% of Alexander Mattison‘s two-year, $7MM contract — a deal that replaces Dalvin Cook‘s as the top running back pact on the team’s payroll — but incentives will allow the fifth-year back to add to that total. If Mattison clears 750 rushing yards, he would pick up $250K. This applies to each season on the contract, ProFootballNetwork.com’s Adam Caplan notes. That number would bump up to $500K in each year if Mattison notches 1,000 yards. While Mattison has never eclipsed 500 yards in a season, he was never in realistic position to do so. With Cook cut, the longtime RB2 is set for his first season as Minnesota’s starter. The Vikings see Mattison, 25, as a three-down player, Caplan adds, noting the team is determining its RB2. Ty Chandler, kick returner Kene Nwangwu and seventh-round rookie DeWayne McBride are in place behind Mattison.
  • Tarik Cohen is coming off two season-nullifying injuries. The former Bears running back/return man suffered ACL and MCL tears in 2021, and less than a week after Chicago cut him (in May 2022), Cohen suffered an Achilles tear. The former Pro Bowl returner is healthy and ready to work out for teams, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. The Bears used Cohen regularly as an outlet option for Mitch Trubisky. In 2018, the 5-6 back totaled 725 receiving yards and led the NFL in punt-return yardage. Although RB value has tanked in 2023, Cohen could represent an interesting flier as a passing-down option. Granted, this is not a good time for a back to be seeking a job coming off two season-ending maladies.

Nine Teams Gain Cap Space From Post-June 1 Cuts

June 2nd, 2022 at 3:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although early June no longer serves as a stretch in which a wave of veterans are released for cap-saving purposes, June 2 still serves as an important calendar date for certain teams annually. Nine teams qualify as beneficiaries this year.

Eleven players were designated as post-June 1 cuts this year, via CBS Sports’ Joel Corry. Due to a longstanding CBA provision, teams that designate players as post-June 1 releases see the dead-money burden lessened for that year. Teams can designate up to two players as post-June 1 releases each year.

Here are 2022’s post-June 1 cuts, along with the belated cap savings the teams picked up Thursday:

Arizona Cardinals

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Las Vegas Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

As detailed in PFR’s glossary, post-June 1 cuts spread dead-money hits over two years. These teams will be taking on dead money this year and next. A few of the 2023 hits are substantial, but the league’s cap-space hierarchy changed significantly Thursday as well.

Because of multiple restructures, Raiders will carry $9.9MM in Littleton dead money next year. The Cowboys will take on $8.7MM in 2023 for cutting Collins, while the Titans will be hit with $8.4MM for their Jones release. Cleveland, which just gave David Njoku a $14.2MM-per-year deal, will carry a $7.5MM dead-money cost next year due to shedding Hooper’s eight-figure-AAV deal early. The Eagles will be tagged with $11.5MM for their Cox cut, with Corry noting that is the net difference because of a $3.2MM salary cap credit regarding Cox’s 2022 bonus proration. Philadelphia re-signed the perennial Pro Bowler on a one-year, $14MM deal.

Hooper’s release pushes Cleveland’s cap space to beyond $40MM; the Browns’ overall cap-space edge is now a whopping $15MM. That should help the team address multiple needs ahead of training camp. Other teams have more options now, too. As of Thursday, the Raiders hold the NFL’s third-most cap space ($22.5MM, per OverTheCap). The $10MM the Cowboys saved moves them up to fourth in cap space ($22.49MM), while the Bears ($22.2MM), Commanders ($18.4MM) and Seahawks ($17MM) now sit fifth, sixth and seventh.

A handful of this year’s post-June 1 cut crop joined Cox in taking advantage of the modern setup, which allows these cap casualties to become free agents immediately — rather than waiting until June to hit the market. In place since the 2006 CBA, this adjustment let veterans loose early while keeping their cap figures on teams’ payrolls through May. Collins quickly joined the Bengals, while Littleton landed with the Panthers, Hooper signed with the Titans, and Phillips returned to the Bills. The remainder of this group remains unsigned. The savings this lot of teams inherited Thursday may help some of these players’ causes in free agency.

RB Tarik Cohen Appears To Suffer Leg Injury

May 17th, 2022 at 7:24pm CST by Ely Allen

7:24pm: An MRI has confirmed that Cohen ruptured his Achilles, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).

5:54pm: After missing most of the 2020 NFL season with a torn ACL and MCL, as well as a tibial plateau fracture, and missing the entire 2021 season recovering from those injuries, former-Bears running back Tarik Cohen may be looking at another unfortunate setback. According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Cohen looks “to have suffered a serious lower-leg injury during a workout (that he was) streaming on IG Live.” 

Cohen was a fourth-round draft pick for Chicago in 2017 after an outstanding career at the HBCU North Carolina A&T. Splitting carries with now-Eagles running back Jordan Howard as rookie, Cohen worked mostly as the team’s receiving back. In his sophomore year in Chicago, Cohen blossomed in his assigned role breaking out for 725 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns, in addition to his 444 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns. He also threw two touchdown passes in his first two years with the Bears.

In his third year, Cohen was only able to see three games of action before suffering his major knee injuries. They sidelined him for the rest of the year and he sat out the following year, as well, in an effort to work back to full health.

Cohen was released by the Bears two months ago and was working towards finally making a comeback from his injuries as a free agent. Unfortunately, if the reports are accurate, it appears that Cohen’s comeback bid may have to wait a bit longer.

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