Jets’ Tarik Cohen battles back from injuries and ‘fat’ period

Tarik Cohen got fat.

Just ask him.

Cohen described himself as “fat” four times Tuesday while recalling the time frame two years ago when he thought his NFL career was over after he tore his Achilles as a free agent who was trying to rush his return from a devastating lower-body injury.

It’s almost hard to believe all that Cohen has endured when you see him accelerating through lanes during Jets practices with flashes of the burst that once made him a Pro Bowler.

His career started with back-to-back seasons of near-1,600 all-purpose yards in 2018 and 2019.

“I let myself get fat,” said Cohen, who played at about 188 pounds for the Bears but topped out 20 pounds heavier when he was sidelined. “But I feel like it got real easy [to get back in shape] once I saw a picture of myself. I really just turned it on without even the intention of coming back to the NFL. I saw little rolls on my side. I was in the pool with my friend and he sent me the picture and I almost threw my phone against the wall.”

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Cohen, 29, hasn’t played in a NFL regular-season game since Sept. 27, 2020, when he broke his leg and tore two ligaments in his knee.

He missed the rest of the 2020 season and all of 2021 before he started feeling good enough to livestream his rehab on Instagram as an advertisement to teams in need of a running back.

The league watched heartbroken and horrified on May 17, 2022, as Cohen crumpled to the ground while shifting from a backpedal to a sprint.

He screamed “No!” as he clutched the back of his right leg.

“I felt so stupid for making that video,” Cohen said. “I did the first rep off camera, and then my best friend was in there with me and was like, ‘Rik, you look like you’re back.’ That was the first day I ran since 2020. I was just too excited. My body wasn’t ready to be running at that speed or change of direction, and my Achilles just popped.”

At that point, Cohen’s career looked finished.

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“It definitely crept in my mind that ‘You’re never going to play again,’ ” Cohen said. “That’s why I treat every day as a blessing. Just remember the times I was at home, watching everybody on TV. It makes you double down every day.”

The Panthers were the first team to give Cohen a comeback chance last season, but he injured his hamstring and never got off the practice squad as the league’s worst team focused on late-season developmental reps for younger players.

Cohen slimmed down by joining a boxing gym, installing a small sauna in his home and changing his diet.

It looked like it all might go for naught.

“What wasn’t I eating? I don’t want to shout out too many corporations without getting paid for it, but I was eating everything,” Cohen quipped. “Steak and eggs [is now] literally my only diet. I try to eat like a cheetah or a lion would eat — only to survive.”

The Jets have a different plan for the 191-pound Cohen than the Panthers had.

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He is part of the second-team running back rotation along with rookies Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, and the most likely solution in a new world of kickoffs and two-deep returners.

A rule change made to encourage fewer touchbacks has placed a league-wide emphasis on special teams playmakers.

“ He looks really good — definitely like he’s getting his legs under him,” coach Robert Saleh said. “He definitely has that short-area quickness. 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.”

Cohen looks comfortable catching the ball despite the long layoff since his time in Chicago, where he returned 30 kickoffs and 96 punts for from 2017 until he was sidelined in Week 3 of the 2020 season.

Cohen’s vision made an early impression on special teams coordinator Brant Boyer.

“It’s a custom-tailored position that they just added to football,” Cohen said, “that I can play and do well in.”

Joining the Jets also is a homecoming of sorts for Cohen, who was born in New York and still has extended family in the area.

“I definitely feel all the way back,” Cohen said. “I’m just trying to show the Jets the explosiveness that I have, the smartness that I’ve gained from being in the league, and lift as I rise — help all the guys in my position group.”

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