Cole Kmet has played with 3 Bears first-round QBs — this one feels different
Cole Kmet isn’t yet 25½ years old, yet he’s the grizzled face of the Bears' offense.
He’s the only one left on the team who ever caught a pass from quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the overall No. 2 pick in 2017. No other offensive player from the 2020 season, Trubisky’s last, is on the team anymore. Kmet is the only tight end left on the Bears who caught more than four passes from Justin Fields during the quarterback’s 2021-23 stint, too.
When the Bears open their season against the Titans next week, Kmet will play for his fourth different play-caller and alongside his eighth different starting quarterback. He’s made the playoffs and finished with the league’s worst record.
He’s not easily fooled, then.
When he talks about rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, you listen.
“He’s a guy who I think has the potential to be a top-five quarterback in this league,” Kmet told the Sun-Times this week. “I really believe that, with the talent that he has and the demeanor — how he takes on the position.”
The Bears’ previous first-round quarterbacks were not at that level. From 2017, the year the Bears drafted Trubisky, through last year, the Bears threw for the fewest yards in the NFL.
That won’t happen this season.
“Obviously we haven’t done it yet — you have to actually go do it — but it’s been cool to see,” Kmet said. “In practice, it feels a little more … a little more competent. It flows correctly. …
“It’s starting to look like a real NFL offense day-in and day-out. We had days in the past where you strung three or four training camp days together and were like, ‘Ooh, this is tough.’”
There are myriad reasons why it doesn’t feel that way anymore, Kmet said, but it’s mostly because of Williams, the former Heisman Trophy and No. 1 overall pick.
“I think obviously the big thing is who’s under center,” he said. “When you’ve got a guy like we’ve got now who I think is going to be really special, you just see him operate at a different clip. …
“That’s, quite frankly, 70 percent-plus of it. And then having the talent that we have around it is also really cool. What a cool situation for him to come into, with all this talent for a first-round pick.”
The Bears traded for the Chargers’ Keenan Allen, whose 95.6 receiving yards per game last year trailed only Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb. He might not even be the Bears’ No. 1 receiver.
“When [Williams] is getting through his progression and the third guy in the progression is Keenan Allen, I think you’re in a pretty good spot as a quarterback,” Kmet said, with a smile spreading across his face. “Those are all pretty cool things to see.”
DJ Moore, Allen and Kmet each finished in the NFL’s top 51 in receiving yards last year. Running back D’Andre Swift and tight end Gerald Everett, the team’s biggest free-agent additions on offense, combined for 625 receiving yards in 2023 — more than the Bears’ fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-leading receivers last year combined. Then there's rookie receiver Rome Odunze, whom the Bears drafted ninth overall.
“We all feed off each other,” Kmet said. "We have a lot of really talented guys on this football team.”
That includes Kmet, who signed a four-year, $50 million extension in July 2023. The St. Viator and Notre Dame alum invested in a turnaround — and the team in him. Kmet feels a different energy than when he joined the Bears — something he credited in part to new president/CEO Kevin Warren, who took over for the retiring Ted Phillips in April 2023.
“There’s a different culture around the building, it seems like, and you’ve got to give some of that to Kevin in terms of people he’s brought in and maybe the structure that’s [put in] place here,” he said. “You definitely feel that. There’s just a new energy with all the people that we have in here. That’s been really cool to see, and it’s been a stark difference since I got here my first year to now.”
Kmet is coming off his best season, having caught 73 passes for 719 yards, both career highs. New offensive coordinator Shane Waldron specializes in using two tight end sets, which means Kmet and Everett will be on the field together, with the former in-line and the latter more likely to split out.
“You’ve got guys who can not only beat man-on-man [coverage], they’re gonna beat the one-on-one tackle too,” Allen said. “So they catch the ball, nine times out of 10, it’s going to be an explosive play because they’re so strong and fast.”.
The Bears’ new offensive weapons mean that, after being targeted 90 times last year — 10th-most among tight ends — Kmet might not get as many chances this year.
That’s fine.
“If that means my target share goes down and we win more games, I am all for that,” he said. “It’s been a long four years of losing, for the most part, since I’ve been here.”
After winning 24 of his 67 career NFL games, Kmet feels the momentum beginning to swell.
“It's starting to look good … ” he said. “I’m for sure taking it in, and excited for what we can be.”