The Tarik Cohen-Tyreek Hill comparisons aren’t going to stop any time soon. In fact, the Chicago Bears’ new head coach might have just fanned the flames even more.
“Well, No. 1, size-wise you see that and you say, ‘OK, they’re pretty similar, right?'” Matt Nagy said, via ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson. “And then you have the speed, the shiftiness, the moves, everything that they do. They’re similar in the fact that you can move them around and do different things. As you see on tape, the one thing you go back and look at the simple numbers, you’re going to see that Cohen can run the ball a little bit more from the backfield. Not that Tyreek can’t.”
Nagy coached Hill the last two years, which were two pretty distinct seasons for the speedy wide receiver. Hill’s rookie season saw him breakout as a return specialist and impact player on offense in small spurts and gadget plays. The Chiefs used Hill on just 40.7 percent of the team’s offensive plays in 2016, but that usage went up a year later to 75.6 percent in 2017. An increase in playing time helped Hill emerge as a pass-catcher, hauling in 75 passes for 1,183 yards.
Cohen could be in line for a similar jump in playing time. As a rookie, Cohen was in on just 36.4 percent of the team’s offensive plays. Like Hill, Cohen was used in small busts and trick plays – remember the times he spent as the team’s Wildcat quarterback or when he threw that touchdown pass?
It would be nice to see Nagy use Cohen differently than the previous offensive staff. Philadelphia Eagles running back Darren Sproles – a player Cohen was often compared to after he was drafted by the Bears – voiced his displeasure with how Cohen was used as a rookie and offered up a suggested solution. Hey, it can’t hurt and could help!