Fantasy Football: 4 Unexpectedly Great Week 1 Performances

Tarik Cohen, RB, Chicago Bears

NFL.com Start Percentage: 0.3%

Week 1 Fantasy Points: 17.30

In his NFL debut against Atlanta, Tarik Cohen impressed as both a rusher (5 carries for 66 yards) and receiver (8 receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown). But other than that, the diminutive rookie has no professional track record to look at. So what do we know?

Well, we do know he had a great college career, rushing for over 5,600 yards (6.5 yards per carry) and 56 touchdowns in four seasons. (For good measure, and he also racked up 98 receptions for 945 yards and another 3 touchdowns.) We know he bears a stylistic and size resemblance to Darren Sproles.

We know the Bears released Jeremy Langford, and that Benny Cunningham suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 1. We know that pass catching isn't Jordan Howard's forte. We know that Howard barely out-touched Cohen in Week 1, perhaps because the Bears were trailing much of the game. And we know the Bears are likely to be trailing fairly often this season -- they're just our 28th-ranked team for 2017.

Conclusion: Cohen appears locked in to a regular role as not only a dynamic change-of-pace option, but a crucial receiving threat out of the backfield. He isn't going to have 17-point weeks on the regular, but he's capable of putting up double-digit showings in PPR formats. Chicago will need to pass a lot this year, and with their receiving corps decimated by injury, a playmaker like Cohen should get plenty of opportunity, even if Jordan Howard continues to get his.