Bears’ receiver additions have Tarik Cohen excited about fewer double teams

BOURBONNAIS — Only two rookie running backs caught more passes than Tarik Cohen, who had 53 last season.

His 70-yard touchdown reception was the longest by a Bear.

Just imagine what could happen now that Cohen knows what he’s looking at. It probably won’t be a double team.

In his second season, Cohen has a better sense of how to read defenses when he lines up at receiver. At the line of scrimmage, he looks for his key — be it a linebacker or a safety — to identify the coverage.

“Your rookie season in the NFL, your mind’s going to be scrambling,” Cohen said Sunday after training-camp practice. “But now it’s slowed down a little bit. I’m more comfortable in the offense. I know what to look at. I don’t have to look at the whole picture; I can just look at where my eyes need to be.

“I feel like my eyes are more trained now.”

Other teams’ eyes, in return, won’t be trained only on Cohen anymore. The additions of wide receivers Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller — as well as tight end Trey Burton — mean Cohen won’t see the double teams he encountered as early as Week 2 of his rookie season. Cohen is excited that opposing players won’t bracket him on pass routes the way they did when they had few other Bears to worry about.

“So a lot of one-on-one matchups,” Cohen said. “And it’s an opportunity for everyone to win.”

He’ll have a better sense of how to do it.

“He’s more comfortable, more patient,” running back Benny Cunningham said. “He’s becoming a pro.”

But a professional what? The 5-6 Cohen thinks of himself as a runner — “A power back,” he joked — even as he goes from running-back drills to receiver drills to punt and kick-return drills during training camp. Last year, the Bears tracked his movements with GPS and found that he ran more than most of his teammates during each practice.

“Tarik can go on and on and on, so we know that,” coach Matt Nagy said. “And we as coaches can’t abuse that and try to do too much.”

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He’s just as tireless learning the finer mental points of his various positions.

“He does have a large capacity, a big tank to fill up with plays,” Nagy said. “And we can move him around, do different things, and it’s not too much for him. With some guys, you can’t do that. With him we can. But we just have to make sure we don’t do too much.”

Cohen swears he can handle the workload. In games, he figures he’ll play a couple of snaps at running back, then line up at receiver and then perhaps return a kick.

“I feel like it’s more mental, just knowing where you’re at because sometimes you can go in and think you’re at a different position,” he said. “That’s some of the stuff that happened to me last year when I would mess up. But now I really think I have that down pat. I know where I’m going when I’m in the game.”

And how many defenders will be chasing him.

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