As we gear up to the start of the NFL season, Football Absurdity is going to bring you a comprehensive breakdown of every notable player that will be available in fantasy football drafts. Things didn’t quite go as the Chicago Bears hoped they would go last season. They had the third-lowest yards per play on offense, the fourth-lowest touchdown rate, the lowest passing yards per attempt, They were also bottom-five in rushing touchdowns and yards per attempt. But other than that, things are looking great for Tarik Cohen, right?
Tarik Cohen ADP and AAV:
Standard Scoring ADP: RB48, 145 overall
PPR Scoring ADP: RB35, 90 overall
Average Auction Value: $1
Tarik Cohen Statistics:
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| G | 16 | all of em | sixteen |
| GS | 11 | 7 | 4 |
| Ru Att | 64 | 99 | 87 |
| Ru Yds | 213 | 444 | 370 |
| Ru TD | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Tgt | 104 | 91 | 71 |
| Rec | 79 | 71 | 53 |
| Yards | 456 | 725 | 353 |
| TD | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Touches | 143 | 170 | 140 |
| Opp | 168 | 190 | 158 |
| Total Yards | 669 | 1169 | 723 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| YPC | 3.33 | 4.48 | 4.25 |
| Ru Att/G | 4.0 | 6.2 | 5.4 |
| Ru Yd/G | 13.3 | 27.8 | 23.1 |
| Tgt/G | 6.50 | 5.69 | 4.44 |
| Rec/G | 4.94 | 4.44 | 3.31 |
| Catch% | 76.0% | 78.0% | 74.6% |
| Yds/Tgt | 4.38 | 7.97 | 4.97 |
| Yds/Rec | 5.77 | 10.21 | 6.66 |
| Touches/G | 8.94 | 10.63 | 8.75 |
| Opp/G | 10.50 | 11.88 | 9.88 |
| Yds/G | 41.81 | 73.06 | 45.19 |
| Year | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| Std Pts | 84.9 | 162.9 | 97.1 |
| HPPR Pts | 124.4 | 198.4 | 123.6 |
| PPR Pts | 163.9 | 233.9 | 150.1 |
| Pts/G | 5.31 | 10.18 | 6.07 |
| HPPR Pts/G | 7.78 | 12.40 | 7.73 |
| PPR Pts/G | 10.24 | 14.62 | 9.38 |
| Pts/Touch | 0.59 | 0.96 | 0.69 |
| Pts/Touch (HPPR) | 0.87 | 1.17 | 0.88 |
| Pts/Touch (PPR) | 1.15 | 1.38 | 1.07 |
Tarik Cohen Overview:
Tarik Cohen once again ranked as one of the most-targeted running backs in the league in 2019, as his 104 targets ranked third behind Christian McCaffrey and Austin Ekeler. In fact, since entering the league, only Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, and James White have more running back targets than Tarik Cohen. He is one-dimensional, but he’s really good at that one dimension.
Wait, is he good at that one dimension, or does he just get a lot of opportunities? Well, he ranked eightieth in yards per target among running backs to get double-digit targets last year. You tell me. Here’s where we stand with Tarik Cohen going into 2020: he’s a one-dimensional running back who hasn’t been particularly prolific in that one dimension in two-of-three seasons in the NFL. Could Cohen return to his 8.0 yards per target? I mean, sure, but it’s hard to see him getting that YPT on over 75 targets again. Not with the Bears built the way they are right now (two quarterbacks, neither a starter, a target hog, no tight ends worth a roster spot… and Anthony Miller).
Tarik Cohen Draft Strategy:
Tarik Cohen Auction Value: $3
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet! (coming late June)
Ultimately, PPR and HPPR leagues let us commit the cardinal sin of getting mucked up in opportunity over real production because said players are getting a ton of targets, even if those targets don’t match their on-field production. At this point, I’m putting Tarik Cohen firmly in the “guys I’m okay being wrong about” camp. His only decent format, PPR, he’s a top-100 pick. No thank you, and no thank you twice on Sundays. Coincidentally, twice on Sundays is about as often as I’d need him to play to justify taking guys over him at his ADP (Marvin Jones, Josh Allen, and Jordan Howard, for example).
Tarik Cohen is an interesting case because he’s coming off of a ton of opportunity in 2019, but showed what a ton of opportunity in a bad offense really means: not a whole lot. Let someone else deal with the roster headache.
Best Case Scenario:
Tarik Cohen returns to his 2018 form, where he ended up as a top-20 running back on the back of having the sixth-most targets among running backs.
Worst Case Scenario:
Let me repeat this basic fact: his quarterbacks are Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky. There’s no joke here, facts only.
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com and airyards.com]
