Tarik Cohen Injury Update Improves David Montgomery Fantasy Outlook

Chicago Bears fans and Tarik Cohen's fantasy managers alike received bad news this Monday following Chicago's Week 3 performance against the Atlanta Falcons.

Tarik Cohen Injury

After sustaining an apparent knee injury in Sunday's game in Atlanta, Bears running back Tarik Cohen has suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee, and the Bears are now placing him on IR.

#Bears coach Matt Nagy announces that tests revealed RB Tarik Cohen did tear the ACL in his right knee. He will be placed on season-ending IR.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) September 28, 2020

Through Week 3, Cohen had amassed 74 yards on the ground on 14 rushing attempts, but he has specialized as more of the Bears' passing back with 9 targets and six receptions for 41 yards through the air as well.

Now with Cohen out of the picture, it's hard to identify a clear-cut backup. Cordarrelle Patterson could be looking at an uptick in volume, especially in the passing game, but he's primarily been a WR throughout his career so he'll be difficult to rely on too much.

The likeliest outcome is that David Montgomery handles even more work than he has already.

Expect the #Bears to give Cordarrelle Patterson more carries out of the backfield with Tarik Cohen injured.

Whether they'll add a free agent depends on their faith in Ryan Nall or Artavis Pierce, but I'd like Spencer Ware for his receiving value and experience with Nagy.
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) September 27, 2020

David Montgomery Fantasy

Despite serving as the Bears feature back in the rushing attack, Montgomery has actually seen the same number of targets (9) and receptions (6) as Cohen through the first three games of the year. Surprisingly, Montgomery has been more efficient than Cohen through the air, racking up 64 yards and a TD.

With Cohen gone, look for those 3.0 targets per game for Montgomery to increase, though Patterson will get a boost there as well.

Montgomery is best viewed as a low-end RB2 going forward. Ahead of Chicago's Week 4 showdown with the Indianapolis Colts, Montgomery checks in at RB20 in our PPR rankings.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.