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Bears coaches have been singing the praises of second-round rookie tight end Cole Kmet, who impressed during training camp, all offseason. Which was reason to believe that Kmet would factor into Chicago’s offensive plans in the season opener.
That wasn’t exactly the case.
Kmet saw the field just 31% of the time on offense. He was targeted just once — an incompletion thrown behind him, which looked to be a miscommunication between Kmet and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Bears coach Matt Nagy acknowledged the small workload with Kmet, noting that that he’s not trying to overdo things. But Nagy said Kmet’s role will certainly increase on offense, albeit it slowly.
“Production and stat line, there wasn’t a whole lot there,” Nagy said. “For the amount of times he played and when he was in there, it was a good mix not to overdo it. There’s going to be a balance of having Jimmy, Demetrius, Cole and J.P. Holtz and others, of trying to understand where they’re at. At the end of the game, you’re in a little more two-minute [offense] because you’re down 17 points, so that changes [things] a little bit. But I think you’ll slowly see his role increase. It just is going to take a little bit of time.”
Which makes sense. Because for all of the praise that Kmet has received for grasping Nagy’s playbook, there’s still the fact of the matter that Kmet didn’t have live preseason reps to work through the little nuances of this offense. There’s only so much you can learn on paper without the benefit of live game speed.
“Obviously, I’m really looking forward to that,” Kmet said ahead of Week 1. “I missed out on part of that this preseason with no preseason games. The NFL game is a little bit different than the college game is, so [I’m] just looking forward to competing against these guys and finding ways for myself to get open. I’m looking forward to all that, so it should be a lot of fun.”
Given the importance of tight end in Nagy’s offense, there’s no doubt that Kmet will continue to be worked into the Bears’ plans while learning on the job. With the ultimate hope being that Kmet will eventually develop into a future star.