The Chicago Bears are a week into padded practices, which has allowed for some better looks at some of the team’s rookies. But the one rookie that has stood apart from the rest has been second-round tight end Cole Kmet, who has been impressing early and often during practices.
And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates and coaches.
Safety Tashaun Gipson has been impressed by the rookie, saying that he believes Kmet is “going to be a star” in the NFL. Which is certainly high praise from a proven veteran that’s been in this league for awhile.
“You look at the rookie, Cole Kmet, I think he’s going to be a star in this league…” – #Bears safety Tashaun Gipson on rookie Cole Kmet.
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) August 21, 2020
Kmet has the benefit of working with Jimmy Graham, who in his prime was one of the biggest threats in the NFL. And Graham has been impressed with Kmet’s overall football intelligence at such a young age. He even sees a bit of himself in the rookie.
“First, his intelligence,” Graham said. “His football intelligence and his ability to soak in these plays and understand his assignments and to understand football and defenses is extremely impressive for a young kid. That’s been the most impressive thing that I can say I notice with him. Also, he’s every bit of 260. He reminds me of a young me. He’s got big legs and the amount of potential that the kid has and the amount of talent that he has is truly unbelievable.”
Normally there’s an acclimation period with rookies, which has been even more prevalent during an offseason where players were confined to virtual offseason programs. Tight ends coach Clancy Barone has been impressed by the fact that Kmet hasn’t lost a step despite the lack of reps.
“I would say based upon the lack of reps that we’ve had — OTAs, and that’s been well established, the lack of reps really that we’ve had during training camp; this is a really strange camp,” Barone said. “Yesterday was the 18th and that was our second day in pads, something like that. That’s never happened before in my life. All that being said, if you put all that in there together, I would say Cole is on schedule if not maybe a tick ahead of schedule. Not to make it sound too grand, but I have zero concerns about Cole Kmet. I really do.”
Even defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano has made note of Kmet’s solid performance during practices, which leads him to believe he’s going to be a great player in this league.
“They pose a great threat. That’s a great opportunity to find out who can cover and who can’t,” Pagano said. “We match them up in one-on-one situations, you guys saw that yesterday. We were down in the red area. Those are two big-time players. Cole being a rookie coming out, he’s gonna be a phenomenal football player. I think we can all see that.”
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