NEWSLETTER
The final year of Tarik Cohen’s rookie deal comes with a financial kicker that squeezes the Bears a tad when it comes to the team’s salary cap situation.
Here’s the scoop from The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain:
Bears RB Tarik Cohen’s base salary for 2020 has jumped from $735,000 to $2.147 million, per NFLPA records.
This is due to the “Proven Performance Escalator,” which is rewarded based on playing time for players drafted in Rounds 3-7 https://t.co/eJjOrJrRDL
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) January 30, 2020
Fishbain reports Cohen’s base salary for 2020 is taking a leap from $735,000 to $2.147 million. Why? Well, because he has earned it on the field.
The “Proven Performance Escalator” clause in rookie contracts comes into play for players drafted in the third round or later who play on at least 35 percent of the offensive or defensive side of the ball in two of the team’s first three seasons. Cohen has reached those mile-markers, playing on more than 45 percent of the offense’s snaps in 2018 and 2019 (in addition to the 36 percent snap share he received as a rookie in 2017). It probably wouldn’t be a cause for pause if Cohen would have had the same success in 2019 that he did in 2018 (when he racked up 1,169 scrimmage yards and scored eight touchdowns), but he averaged fewer yards per touch and gained fewer total scrimmage yards in 2019 than he did as a rookie in Dowell Loggain’s scheme in 2017. The regression monster hit hard in 2019, but Cohen still was in on enough plays to get the salary bump.
On one side of the coin, it’s good that Cohen played well enough to merit the number of snaps to qualify for the performance escalator clause. Because, in a way, Cohen’s overall performance justifies GM Ryan Pace and his scouts’ belief in who was once a little-known prospect from North Carolina A&T. After all, it is a net positive to see Bears late-round picks flourish. However, it isn’t a nothing that Cohen’s clause kicking in costs the Bears $1.412 million in usable cap space. So on the other side of the coin, we have a team already needing to get creative to create space getting crunched (even if it is just a minor crunch). Before Cohen’s kicker factors in, OverTheCap.com estimates the Bears have $6,490,861 in available cap space. That number will shrink once the cap number on the escalator works itself out.
This is old hat for Chicago’s front office. Last offseason, the Bears were able to save a few million in cap space by trading Jordan Howard (who had a contract escalator of his own kick in last offseason) to the Eagles last March. Chicago then turned to free agency (Mike Davis) and the draft (David Montgomery, Kerrith Whyte Jr.) to replace the snaps left behind by Howard. In theory, the Bears could do that again this offseason if the team feels as if Cohen isn’t a fit for the offense or if the feeling is that potential future draft capital is more valuable. But a trade of Cohen would leave the Bears with two running back spots to fill on the depth chart behind David Montgomery, which would complicate an offseason plan that already features enough hurdles to clear as things are currently laid out.
In the end, this salary cap crunch will be something worth monitoring once the Super Bowl ends and the path to the offseason comes into focus.
