Jets running back Tarik Cohen’s comeback began with an unflattering photo: ‘I let myself get fat’

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — A photo was all Tarik Cohen needed to get his body — and his NFL comeback — back in gear.

The New York Jets running back, who hasn’t played in a regular-season game since 2020 because of injuries, was enjoying his time away from the field.

A little too much.

“I let myself get fat,” Cohen said Tuesday after practice. “But I feel like it got real easy once I saw a picture of myself. And then, I really just turned it on without even the intention of coming back to the NFL. I just started grinding and, you know, my body started to feel way better. And I started making a decision to come back to the NFL.”

The 5-foot-6 Cohen said after he tore an Achilles tendon during the 2022 offseason, he ballooned from his playing weight of 188 pounds to around 207 or 208.

“I saw little rolls on the side,” Cohen said. “I was in the pool and my friend took a picture and he sent me the picture and I almost threw my phone against the wall.”

He changed his diet and hit the gym, the boxing ring and the sauna — and now is at around 190 pounds. And he’s getting another chance at playing in the NFL after the Jets signed him in May after a tryout.

“It just makes you double down every day,” Cohen said. “Like, you just think about the difference, what you would be doing or what I was doing two years ago on this day. I get a popup on my phone — you know, iPhone got all the memories popping up — so you’ll just see what you were doing. And I was at home fat.

“So I just see now, it’s just like, man, I was fat, but now I’m running routes out here. So it’s just a blessing.”

The 28-year-old Cohen was one of the NFL’s most dynamic players during his first few seasons with Chicago. He was selected an All-Pro as a kick return specialist in 2018 and made the Pro Bowl.

But he broke his right leg and tore his ACL and MCL in 2020 and missed that season and the following season. In May 2022, Cohen was live streaming a workout on Instagram when he tore an Achilles tendon — similar to the injury suffered by Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers in last year’s season opener — and missed that entire season.

“I felt so stupid for making that video,” Cohen said with a smile.

Cohen, who said he hadn’t run since 2020 before that day, did his first workout off camera and a friend told him he looked impressive. So, the running back decided to share his progress with fans, friends, family — and NFL teams who might be interested.

“I was just too excited,” Cohen said. “And my body really wasn’t ready to be running at that speed or that change of direction. And then my Achilles just popped on me.”

He also acknowledged he initially thought his playing days were over.

“It definitely crept into my mind,” he said, “that you’re never going to play again.”

But after recovering and getting his body back into shape, Cohen was cleared to play last summer and signed with Carolina’s practice squad. He spent most of the season on injured reserve with a hamstring injury and was released by the Panthers on May 10.

A few weeks later, he joined the Jets to help in the backfield and on their special teams units.

“He looks really good,” coach Robert Saleh said. “Definitely looks like he’s getting his legs under him. He definitely has that short-area quickness and that zero-to-60 range. It’s just a matter of him finding that long-range stuff that he had, which not to say it was slow, but his long-speed was elite before the injury. But all of the other stuff and the long-speed will come.”

Cohen says he’s feels as though he is “all the way back” and might be able to add a new set of action shots to the photo album.

“I just treat every day like it’s a blessing,” he said. “Come out, just put my best foot forward and just remember the times I was at home watching everybody on TV.”