Matt Waldman’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio examines how Bears head coach Matt Nagy could transition Tarik Cohen into a Tyreek Hill role.
An excellent NFL weapon, Tyreek Hill was not remotely the caliber of running back that Tarik Cohen was when both were in college. Hill’s transition to the wide receiver position made sense. Cohen lacks Hill’s speed but if used to his capabilities, could become as productive as Hill.
With Matt Nagy leaving the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator post for Chicago’s head coaching job, we should get an opportunity to see Cohen perform in Hill’s role. In a separate post, I reviewed Tarik Cohen’s 2017 season and previewed opportunities where the Bears could do more with him in 2018.
This post illustrates ways that Nagy used Hill, the links between Hill and Cohen’s usage last year, and the ways Nagy used Hill that should benefit Cohen in 2018:
- Creating mismatches for Cohen against corners playing outside shade and occupying the safety on that side so Cohen can work the deep middle.
- Using trips sets to create mismatches for Cohen against linebackers using the four verticals concept.
- Spreading the field with unusual empty set looks that confuse the defense and create a blown coverage.
- Misdirection plays that capitalize on Cohen’s cutback ability and acceleration.
- Pairing Cohen and Jordan Howard in the same backfield and creating numbers advantages to set up misdirection plays.
Chicago has a great opportunity to turn Cohen into its version of Tyreek Hill and Howard into Kareem Hunt. If the line stays healthy, it could lead to Mitchell Trubisky earning a lot of wide open looks in the deep passing game and a strong sophomore year for the quarterback.
Using Tarik Cohen Like Tyreek Hill Thread
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