Tarik Cohen is no longer fat. He’s also no longer chasing an NFL career.
The former Pro Bowl return man informed the New York Jets he’s retiring from football, The Associated Press confirmed.
Cohen signed with the Jets in the offseason after spending 2023 on the Carolina Panthers practice squad. He told reporters on Tuesday that his comeback started after he saw an unflattering photo of himself, admitting, “I let myself get fat.”
The 29-year-old noted that he “definitely feels all the way back” after multiple injuries derailed his career.
Two days later, he’s hanging up the cleats.
A fourth-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2017, Cohen’s career looked bright. He was a smashing return man, making the Pro Bowl in 2018, and took on a pass-catching role out of the backfield. Given the proclivity of receiving backs in today’s NFL, Cohen looked like he’d have a long, promising future.
Then, after inking a three-year extension in Chicago, disaster struck.
In Week 3, 2020, Cohen was hit low on a fair catch punt, tearing his ACL and MCL and fracturing his tibial plateau.
He’d never play another regular season snap.
Cohen spent the 2021 season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list. In 2022, the Bears released him. After an Achilles tear in training, he was cleared to return in 2023. He eventually landed on the Carolina Panthers practice squad, where a hamstring injury sidelined any real chance to be elevated. Carolina released him in May 2024. Shortly after that, he signed with the Jets.
The former running back was a long shot to make the 53-man roster out of camp, but the new kick return rules opened the door for the shifty back to prove he still had a place in the NFL. Indications from Jets camp were that Cohen looked shifty, and coach Robert Saleh said it looked like the back “got his juice back.”
In the end, one of the most exciting return men in the NFL for three seasons decided to walk away of his own volition. After all the adversity and harm Cohen battled through, he earned that right.