Tarik Cohen's NFL comeback attempt is an inspiring story worth rooting for this season

After nearly three full seasons away from the professional game, Tarik Cohen will be making an NFL comeback attempt this year. The news of Cohen’s latest efforts to return to the league comes per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

And Cohen’s story — which he once detailed in a heartbreaking Players’ Tribune article — is something everyone should be rooting for this fall.

There was once a time when Cohen was one of the NFL’s most electric players. As a member of the Chicago Bears, Cohen was a productive big-play machine, recording 2600-plus yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns on just over 470 touches in four seasons. The Bears leaned on the diminutive but electric back as a genuine focal point of their offense. If Chicago needed a first-down conversion or a chunk play, chances are Cohen’s No. 29 jersey was being dialed. And he almost always delivered.

But then Cohen tore his ACL early in Chicago’s 2020 campaign, and everything changed. And when attempting to make his comeback in the ensuing years, Cohen’s brothers, Tyrell and Dante, died in separate incidents in 2021 and 2022. Chicago would officially release Cohen in March 2022, and he tore his Achilles tendon shortly after, casting his long-term NFL future into doubt.

On a professional and personal level, Cohen has seen more than his fair share of adversity in recent years. As he tries a comeback, there’s no guarantee he will find his way onto an NFL roster, let alone make any on-field impact. But it would be so touching to see Cohen make a wholehearted effort to return and succeed. Even if he likely isn’t the same player that he once was, it’s not about playing at an elite level again.

It’s about showing he still belongs in one of the most exclusive sports leagues in the world and that he’s so much more than the trials he’s suffered through lately. Who can’t relate to that?