Tarik Cohen Opens the Bears’ Offense

The between-the-tackles grinder with limited receiving skills in football has gone the way of the low post grinder with limited shooting ability in basketball. They still have a place in the game, but it’s no longer a preferred skill set to build an offense around. There are other methods of moving the ball that are more efficient.

By doing everything better than Jordan Howard besides interior running, Tarik Cohen opens up the Bears’ offense. This doesn’t make Howard irrelevant, but it’s a feeling among the coaching staff, indicated by a decrease in the third year back’s snap share.

While Nagy has said that Howard is an “integral part of the offense”, he also justifies the way in which he’s recently been deployed, stating “We have a lot of good players on this team. We don’t go through just one guy.” If touches are going to be out, fantasy ownership favors the high-efficiency splash play guy (Cohen) over the volume-dependant bruiser (Howard).

The Bears play out of the shotgun 74% of the time. Despite this, 48.7% of Howard’s carries come from under-center. This means two things: When Jordan Howard is in the game, the offense is more predictable, and in order for this offense to run most efficiently, the running back must threaten the defense as a receiver. It’s no coincidence the Bears’ offense failed to score in the first half last week, yet took off in a third quarter where Howard was largely uninvolved.

Cohen is an explosive play waiting to happen, breaking off a run of 15 yards or longer on 12.5% of his carries 32 carries. Despite being 21st in receptions among running backs, he’s 5th in receiving yards. He’s averaging 8.1 yards per touch, literally doubling Jordan Howard. If you were in charge, which guy would you want on the field? Cohen deserves weekly flex consideration and I like him to further relegate Howard to short yardage and goal line duties.