I'd love to see him make the 53-man roster, and have an opportunity on the field again. Below is an article that was in the local paper this past week.
Tarik Cohen comeback bid brings him to Carolina Panthers
The journey back to the NFL isn’t quite complete for Tarik Cohen.
Once a standout at North Carolina A&T, Cohen emerged as a key runner and kick returner for the Chicago Bears. Injuries took his promising career off course, but the path was re-established when the Carolina Panthers signed him to the practice squad. But that’s not his ultimate destination.
“I don’t feel like I’ve reached a mountaintop yet,” Cohen said Saturday. “Putting on the pads was another stepping stone in the right direction. But putting those pads on, it just reminded me of where I used to be in terms of being a main guy on the team.”
Currently, Cohen isn’t expected to suit up when the Panthers face the New Orleans Saints in the home opener on Monday night. He was on the verge of not being on an NFL sideline at all.
Cohen, a native of Bunn in Franklin County, splashed onto the scene at North Carolina A&T. By the time he was done in Greensboro, Cohen had set a record in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with 5,619 rushing yards, breaking 17 records at A&T along the way. He was the first MEAC player to be awarded three conference offensive player of the year honors and being selected first-team All-MEAC four times.
One moment that stands out in his football life is a viral
video in which he caught footballs while doing backflips. Cohen later caught two passes while doing a backflip.
He was picked by the Bears in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, making him the first Aggie drafted in 12 years. It was the earliest an A&T running back had ever been taken in the draft.
While he was with the Bears, Cohen had a strong rookie year as a running back and kick returner, and made All-Pro as a punt returner in 2018 after leading the league with 33 returns for 411 yards. Things were looking up.
He played three full seasons with the Bears, but he tore his ACL during a punt return in 2020, and he missed the entire 2021 while recovering from that injury. Cohen was released by the Bears during the subsequent offseason. Suddenly, things weren’t so rosy and they were about to get worse.
The Sporting News reported in 2022 that, in the midst of a training session that he was live-streaming on his Instagram account, Cohen was performing a drill that entailed backpedaling and then exploding forward to work on his change of direction skills. As he pushed off, he fell to the ground in pain and grabbed at the back of his right heel. He had torn his Achilles tendon, and the comeback was, at the very least, in peril.
“I went through all the emotions, went through everything mentally, just as anybody else would on the outside looking in,” Cohen said. “I thought about retiring, thought about not playing again. That was where I had my mind made up and I really thought I was never going to come back and play.”
On the verge of ending his career, hanging out with his girlfriend, Jasmine Gray, and son, Carter, rejuvenated him.
“Being with them every day, just seeing myself get back into my athletic feels, training, running around with my son, I just felt like I can still do it, and I just feel like I kind of owe it to my son to give it another shot so he can see me in that phase of my life,” Cohen said.
The next goal for Cohen is to make the 53-man roster and make his presence felt for the Panthers. It’s that day when Cohen will feel his comeback is complete, and there’s one thing that will confirm it.
“When I score a touchdown across the pylons,” he said. “When I cross that pylon, I think that would be a good marker for being on the track where I want to be, being the athlete that I was, being the player that I was, trying to get the ball in my hands and making something explosive out of it.”
And when that moment comes, Cohen has an idea of what might happen.
“I think I’m going to let the tears roll,” he said. “It’s going to fall down (from) my eyes, but I’m ready for whatever emotion happens.”