The comeback bid for former Carolina Panthers running back Tarik Cohen has ended.
As reported by ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter, the 29-year-old Bunn, N.C. native has informed the New York Jets that he is retiring from football. Cohen posted the following tweet ahead of Schefter’s report on Thursday morning:
— Tarik Cohen (@TarikCohen) August 1, 2024
The North Carolina A&T State University product cracked into the league as a fourth-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2017. He spent four seasons there, a stint highlighted by his First-team All-Pro campaign as a returner in 2018.
Even at 5-foot-6 and 191 pounds, Cohen also proved to be an offensive threat. He notched 1,101 rushing yards, 1,575 receiving yards and 14 total touchdowns out of the backfield for the Bears.
Cohen’s last regular-season appearance came in Chicago’s Week 3 contest in 2020, where he sustained ACL and MCL tears as well as a tibial plateau fracture while returning a punt. He’d then tear his Achilles tendon during a workout session in the spring of 2022.
Carolina would take a flyer on Cohen in 2023—reuniting him with his special teams coordinator from Chicago, Chris Tabor. Cohen spent the season on the team’s practice squad before being released on May 10, 2024.
