When the Bears hired former Kansas City offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to fill their head coaching vacancy, second-year scat back Tarik Cohen immediately began to envision himself in the role of Chiefs multi-purpose All-Pro Tyreek Hill.
While Nagy has acknowledged the similarities between the two pint-sized playmakers, it's unclear to what extent Cohen will be featured in Chicago's offense this season.
If offseason practices are any indication, Nagy shares mentor Andy Reid's penchant for exploiting mismatches through alignment.
In a Monday interview with the Jim Rome Show, Cohen revealed that Nagy already has him moving around the gridiron as a pre-snap chess piece.
"I feel like if I could kick the football, he'd also want me to kick the football, too," Cohen quipped. "It just goes to show how many places he has me at. I've been everywhere. I've been at every position. It's crazy."
A fourth-round steal out of North Carolina A&T State, Cohen became the first NFL rookie since Hall of Famer Gale Sayers in 1965 to score touchdowns via rushing, receiving, passing and punt return in a single season. His total of 1,578 all-purpose yards nearly matched Hill's rookie-year output of 1,836 yards.
The primary difference between the two dynamic playmakers, as Nagy pointed out at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, is that Cohen is a better runner out of the backfield while Hill is a superior downfield receiver.
For every versatile, undersized success story such as Hill or Darren Sproles, however, there is a Tavon Austin, Dri Archer or Dexter McCluster who fell by the wayside.
Cohen has several factors working in his favor, not least of which is a sturdy, compact frame that allows him to withstand punishment from tacklers. He's also operating in a custom-built offense using concepts similar to the ones he experienced in college.
To top it all off, he has the benefit of Hill's 2017 play-caller, the man Reid once praised as the best coaching prospect he's groomed in 19 years with the Eagles and Chiefs.
Cohen is an obvious candidate to shine in Nagy's creative attack. The question is whether he will come close to matching Hill's value as one of the most dangerous big-play threats in football.
