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Aaron Schillinger takes a look at the dynasty value of Chicago Bears RB duo of Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard. What is their fantasy football outlook for dynasty leagues near the midway point of the 2018 NFL season?
Heading into the 2018 Fantasy Football season, Jordan Howard was the guy to own. For redraft leagues, Howard was going around the second or third round, sometimes even sooner. Finishing the 2017 season with 185 points in PPR scoring put Howard tied with Ezekiel Elliott for the RB12. Many owners were expecting Howard to take off this year, as he appeared to be the leader of this backfield, but he's been fairly disappointing so far this year.
The other half of this backfield is the second-year back Tarik Cohen. In 2017 he wasn't getting too much volume, but he definitely flashed some talent and was seen as an electric, nice complement to Howard.
If you checked out my Dynasty Outlook for the Chicago Bears this past off-season, there is a good chance that Cohen may be on your roster. If you're reading this, you'll know where I'm going with this piece. Let's look at the current dynasty outlook for both Bears running backs.
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Jordan Howard
6'0" 224 pounds - 24 years old
RotoBaller Dynasty RB Rank: 15
Heading into his third year in the NFL, Jordan Howard was being viewed as a high-end RB2 with upside. Many owners were banking on him being their number one running back for their fantasy teams this year, and rightfully so. After two 1,000+ yard seasons, seven total touchdowns in his rookie season, and nine total touchdowns last year, there's no denying the upside Howard brings to the table. Despite a somewhat underwhelming start to the 2018 season, he has still seen 10+ attempts in each game this year and has been surprisingly efficient in the passing game. One of the biggest knocks that owners have on Howard is that he has been known for dropping passes and just not being too involved in passing game. This can be a problem for some running backs in fantasy football, as most leagues these days are full-PPR scoring.
To kick off the 2018 season, Howard caught all five of his targets against the Packers in Week 1. Since then, he's caught 10 of 12 targets on the year and scored one receiving touchdown, which was the first of his career. Needless to say, it's clear that he's either spent a lot of time catching passes over the offseason or maybe Mitchell Trubisky has much better chemistry with Howard.
Dynasty Outlook
If you own Howard in your dynasty leagues, you've probably been disappointed this year. Heading into Week 7, Howard is the 39th-ranked running back in PPR scoring. Despite Howard being disappointing so far this year, he's still getting a decent amount of volume. If you own him, you've probably gotten some lowball offers for him or you have tried to shop him. At this point in time, your best bet is to hold him. Don't freak out and go selling him for cheap. On the other hand, if you sell him, you're going to have to sell low as he's been obviously dismal so far this year. If you don't own him, this isn't a bad time to make an offer for him if the owner is panicking.
Tarik Cohen
5'6" 181 pounds - 23 years old
RotoBaller Dynasty RB Rank: 37
Tarik Cohen is heading into his second year in the NFL. After starting in just four games in his rookie season, he totaled a nice amount of receptions and was very efficient with his touches. He caught 53 of 71 targets last year and one receiving touchdown. He totaled two rushing touchdowns in 2017 and already has one in 2018. His production has been so good in fact, that he's currently the RB19 in PPR scoring. Again, Howard is the RB39 right now. He also already has 21 receptions on 25 targets for 259 receiving yards and a touchdown. The new Chicago Bears offense has clearly seen what Cohen has to offer and is doing what they can to get him more involved. This was somewhat expected with the addition of Matt Nagy and Mark Helfrich and what they've done in Kansas City and Oregon, perspectively.
I'm not sold on either of these two backs taking that lead running back role. Howard should still get the first crack at touches in the backfield and likely a majority of the goal line work. Even if Howard goes back to taking on more work as the season goes on, Cohen has established his role in this offense. One of the knocks on Cohen as a prospect was his size. He wasn't viewed as someone who will be able to handle a big workload in the NFL. For Cohen, he doesn't need a major role to be effective and ultimately, valuable to your dynasty teams.
Dynasty Outlook
If you drafted Cohen last year in your rookie drafts or grabbed him off of waivers, let's hope you held onto him. If you went out and bought low on him while you could, this is the best scenario you could ask for. Cohen's value is the highest it's ever been, and rightfully so. In this offense, I expect Howard and Cohen to co-exist and ultimately, it should be a running back by committee for the foreseeable future. This isn't a bad time to sell Cohen to an owner that believes he is the new RB1 in Chicago. On the other hand, if you own Cohen, don't give him up easily. He should have a nice PPR floor moving forward and makes for a good Flex option, even an RB2 option.
