Tag: Cole Kmet

Cole Kmet talks Caleb Williams’ progress during Bears OTAs

During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Bears TE Cole Kmet praised Caleb Williams and talked about his progress during OTAs.

Expectations are high for Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who now carries the weight of decades of Chicago quarterback woes.

But the pressure is nothing new for Williams, who made it clear long before he was drafted by the Bears that he’s looking to rewrite history and leave a lasting impression on the game.

Although, like with anything, it’s going to take time as Williams acclimates from the college to the pro game. But even at this point of the offseason, his new teammates have noticed him making strides.

During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, tight end Cole Kmet praised Williams and talked about his progress during OTAs.

“You can see why he’s been so successful thus far in his football career and why he has those types of intangibles to succeed in the NFL,” Kmet said. “I’m really excited for him. He’s been putting in a lot of work and you can see the progress he was making throughout the OTA period.”

Despite Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud’s success during his rookie season, it’s not the norm in the NFL. But if there’s a rookie quarterback who’s in a position to have the kind of success Stroud had last year, it’s Williams.

The Bears have done everything they can to put Williams in a position to succeed, and he enters the league in perhaps the best situation ever for a No. 1 pick QB. Chicago has an arsenal of weapons at his disposal, including receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, along with an improved offensive line and a potential top-10 defense.

No one’s expecting perfection from Williams right out of the gate, but he’s in a position to do what quarterbacks before him have failed to do: Establish himself as the Bears’ franchise QB.

TE Marcedes Lewis officially re-signs with Bears on 1-year deal

The man known as “Big Dog” is back in Chicago.

Marcedes Lewis is officially back in the navy and orange.

The 40-year-old tight end re-signed with the Chicago Bears on Monday, agreeing to a one-year deal. The signing came just one day after reports surfaced from FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer that the two sides would meet to discuss a deal.

Lewis joined the Bears last summer on a one-year-deal as a veteran leader on a young team. He came into the league in 2006 as a Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick, and spent five years with the Green Bay Packers. Despite his age, Lewis showed he’s still considered one of the top blockers in the league, playing an important role as the team’s extra lineman on many different plays. His 77.1 PFF run-blocking grade was fifth among tight ends. Lewis also caught four catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.

Now, Lewis is back, but with new faces in key positions. Gone are his former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and teammate Robert Tonyan, both of whom were instrumental in bringing him to Chicago, as well as quarterback Justin Fields, who was traded in the offseason.

Now, he joins an offense led by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. Lewis will also reunite with tight end Cole Kmet and work with newcomer Gerald Everett, who signed a two-year deal in the offseason.

Entering his 19th season, Lewis has seen it all at the NFL level and will be a valuable veteran for Williams and the Bears to lean on. He also has the chance to make history by breaking Jason Witten’s record for most games played by a tight end. He needs to play just four games to pass him. Given that Lewis played in all 17 games in 2023, that feat certainly seems achievable.

Teven Jenkins says ‘nothing is on the table’ for Bears extension

Teven Jenkins has said he wants to a Bear for a long time, but he’s still waiting for the team to engage in contract negotiations.

It’s been quite the journey for offensive lineman Teven Jenkins ever since he became a member of the Chicago Bears. The former second-round pick was supposed to be the team’s franchise left tackle, then experienced a regime change, moved to right tackle, was supposedly on the trade block, and finally settled at guard, where he became one of the league’s better interior blockers.

Despite the rollercoaster early on, Jenkins found a home on the offensive line and is being counted on for the 2024 season as the Bears usher in a new offense and a new era. But anything beyond that is very much up in the air.

Jenkins said as much on Wednesday afternoon following Day 2 of Bears minicamp practice. Meeting with the media, Jenkins was asked if he had talked with the team about a possible contract extension as he is entering the final year of his deal. “Yeah, we reached out,” Jenkins said, but quickly made it clear where things stood. “Nothing is on the table.” A follow-up was asked on where things stood with him and the current administration. “Up in the air, can’t tell you,” Jenkins said while shaking his head.

According to Jenkins, one side is talking about wanting to do a deal. The question is, when will general manager Ryan Poles follow up? Jenkins is the next player in line for an extension, and he has excelled at guard when healthy. That’s the issue, though.

Since coming into the league back in 2021, Jenkins has started just 24 of 51 possible games due to injuries. He’s dealt with back issues, a neck injury, and lower body injuries, including one that kept him out of the team’s first four games last season. Jenkins knows he hasn’t been on the field enough and mentioned that as his top goal this upcoming season. “Stay healthy. That’s No. 1, and that’s of the utmost importance for me right now. Stay healthy, get through the whole 17 games, and continue my strong play from last year and be a more consistent, reliable guy.”

Jenkins has the potential to be a Pro Bowl guard if he can stay on the field. He allowed just three sacks all year in 2023, with two of them coming in the final game. He’s developed into a mauler in the run game and has been the team’s top interior lineman the last two years, despite moving from the right side to the left in 2023.

Poles hasn’t been shy about giving out extensions, even to the players he didn’t select. Tight end Cole Kmet and cornerback Jaylon Johnson both inked new four-year deals within the last 12 months, despite being selected by the previous regime. And while Kmet has been the team’s Iron Man, Johnson has dealt with his own health issues, which could have been one of the reasons for the holdup. Poles and Jenkins may have had a rocky start to their relationship, but things appear to be much better going into Year 3 together.

The Bears clearly need Jenkins to solidify the interior of their offensive line, given the constant shuffling that has been happening. If he can just stay healthy, there’s a much better chance of a deal getting done. And it’s not like Jenkins wants to go anywhere, either. “I want to be a Bear for a long time,” he said in an interview last month. Hopefully, the feeling winds up being mutual.

Bears 2024 minicamp Day 2: Cole Kmet, Braxton Jones held out of practice

The Bears completed their second minicamp practice, but two starters on offense did not participate.

Day 2 of mandatory minicamp is in the books for the Chicago Bears, and a few prominent veterans on offense who were out there on Tuesday did not practice on Wednesday.

Tight end Cole Kmet and offensive tackle Braxton Jones were held out of practice on Wednesday. Other players who did not participate include wide receivers Tyler Scott and Dante Pettis and offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie, according to NBC Sports Chicago’s Josh Schrock.

Though Kmet and Jones did not practice, head coach Matt Eberflus said there was no cause for concern as both players were held out for precautionary reasons. “Today, you saw that Cole and Braxton didn’t practice; again, that’s just precautionary,” Eberflus told reporters after practice. “When guys feel a certain way, certain thing, they get with the trainers; just work on that so they can get ready for summer conditioning because that’s coming up here pretty shortly.”

According to CHGO’s Adam Hoge, Kmet got banged up during Tuesday’s practice but still finished the session. Kmet made a nice leaping catch in the middle of the field on a pass from quarterback Caleb Williams during that practice.

Though some players were out, there was good news regarding defensive end Montez Sweat and guard Nate Davis. Both players returned to team drills after they sat out during Tuesday’s practice.

The Bears have just one more day of minicamp before they depart Halas Hall for an extended period of time.

Caleb Williams seemingly forced Topgolf to stay open until 1 a.m. so he could beat Cole Kmet

Caleb Williams and Cole Kmet were just bored, let’s be serious.

Look, I won’t doubt that Caleb Williams is a fiery competitor. You don’t get to where he is in life — a No. 1 overall pick quarterback for the Chicago Bears, the NFL’s charter franchise — without an extra edge and fixation on winning. He is somehow elevating the Bears to new heights they have literally never seen before already.

But c’mon now, we don’t have to mythologize random late nights at the driving range to build up his budding legend. Let’s take things down a notch.

READ MORE: Rich Eisen thinks Caleb Williams can take the Bears to the Super Bowl as a rookie

After Tuesday’s Bears OTA practice, Chicago tight end Cole Kmet told a story about how he and Williams recently spent an entire evening at a local Topgolf. The location was apparently about to close, except Williams seemingly forced them to keep playing until 1 a.m. so he could beat Kmet.

That … does not resonate like this cool story of competition to me:

I don’t know about you, dearest readers, but this specific story sounds like two guys in their 20s hanging out in the Chicago suburbs with nothing better to do for a night. So, they decided to hang out at a driving range for a few extra hours. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’m all for incredible anecdotes about how Williams pushes his teammates and coaches to improve. That’s all well and good. Williams deserves most of the hype coming his way with the Bears. No one denies this fact. He really could be this special “savior” quarterback everyone thinks he will be.

But I’m not going to take an extended evening centered around hitting a few hundred golf balls at face value to get somehow more excited about a dude who hasn’t thrown a single pass in a game yet. It’s pretty silly to hear Kmet talk about him simply hanging out with his new quarterback and think, “Wow, Williams is such a tenacious winner!”

Let’s be realistic. Let’s be more serious.

Better than average: Tight Ends

Which tight ends were truly the best against specific defenses?

As always, there are so few difference-making tight ends that after the top five of the position, there’s only moderate to mediocre fantasy value in all the rest. But as with the other positions, here are how tight ends fared considering how they stacked up against all other tight ends that faced the same defense.

See Also: Better than average
Quarterbacks | Running backs | Wide receivers

Evan Engram has been the No. 2 and No. 4 fantasy tight end for his two seasons in Jacksonville and yet is drafted as the No. 6 or No. 7 tight end in drafts this summer. This despite how good he played in most games. He was the only tight end that turned in over half of his games as a Top-4 tight end.

The position holds so few difference-makers that this listing shows which tight ends receive enough volume to end with Top-8 games. Newcomer Sam LaPorta shattered what we expect from a rookie tight end, and now has to avoid becoming the next Kyle Pitts. That shouldn’t be a problem since he’ll still have Jared Goff throwing the ball instead of Desmond Ridder who limited Pitts.

It was also encouraging to see how highly David Njoku and Cole Kmet rated in this metric. Trey McBride is popular this season, but his stats were boosted by three big games as the No. 1 for that defense.

LaPorta was dazzling as a rookie, and it wasn’t a case of him being the only receiver for the Lions. Travis Kelce dropped from 2023 when he had six No. 1 performances, and all 17 games were Top-8 against that defense. The fall may have seemed Swift, but he still was No. 2 for those big games.

T.J. Hockenson has been a beast for the Lions but blew an ACL and won’t be up to speed to start the year. The biggest surprise in the No. 1 performances was David Njoku, who ended as the No. 5 fantasy tight end in 2023 and has been going as the No. 8 or No. 9 tight end this summer.

Recent Super Bowl contenders show that Cole Kmet must show up for Bears

Cole Kmet will be key to the Bears’ success as they look to contend for a championship.

Many people are excited about the weapons the Chicago Bears have lined up for Caleb Williams in his first year. They have D’Andre Swift as their new running back and a receiving core that includes DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze. 

With that said, recent Super Bowl contenders reveal that the Bears need a lot of help from tight end Cole Kmet, who’s coming off a career year. These top-flight tight ends usually all find their way to the top of the mountain in the playoffs. If Kmet can take yet another step this year, he might help Chicago go far. 

The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers each won rings with Rob Gronkowski in place. More recent examples of contenders include Travis Kelce with the Kansas City Chiefs, George Kittle with the San Francisco 49ers, Mark Andrews with the Baltimore Ravens, and Sam LaPorta with the Detroit Lions. 

If the Bears want to have the success that those teams have had, they need to make sure that Kmet gets going. It is very important to see him grow into a high-end producer. He has the tools around him now to take another step after an impressive year in 2023. He can be even better moving forward.

With the addition of another good tight end in Gerald Everett, Kmet will have more room out there. Running a two-tight end set should be beneficial for both guys in 2024. 

If Kmet can cement himself as a high-end offensive contributor, the Bears will certainly find more team success. The other teams around the league suggest that Chicago can be elite if this happens. With the other great weapons they have on offense, it feels very realistic. 

WATCH: Caleb Williams connects with DJ Moore, Cole Kmet at Bears OTAs

Caleb Williams connects with his new veteran teammates, including DJ Moore and Cole Kmet, in these Bears OTA clips.

The Chicago Bears kicked off organized team activities this week at Halas Hall, where they conducted two voluntary practices on Monday and Tuesday.

Before the Bears return to the field Thursday for their third practice, the team’s social accounts released some quick videos from the first two days.

That included a first look at rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who was dropping dimes to his new veteran teammates including receiver DJ Moore and tight ends Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett.

There was also a glimpse of third-year cornerback Kyler Gordon during drills.

The Bears will continue OTAs on Thursday (with media in attendance) before additional practices May 28-29 and May 31. They’ll wrap things up with mandatory minicamp on June 4-6 before breaking for the summer ahead of training camp in mid-July.

Cole Kmet talks returning to Notre Dame to complete degree

Have you seen the former Irish tight end on campus lately?

[autotag]Cole Kmet[/autotag] made everyone proud recently when he graduated from Notre Dame. With three years as a Chicago Bears tight end, he decided the time was right to finish his political science degree. The Bears decided to get the inside scoop on what returning to student life was like, and he was happy to show off a bit of the campus as he was being interviewed:

It was nice to hear a side of Kmet that others might not get to see. How often do you hear an NFL player talk about analyzing poetry or having a full day of classes twice a week? Or how cool is it to hear him talk about his relationship with his baseball-playing brother, [autotag]Casey Kmet[/autotag]? Or how about taking in a meal at the Morris Inn?

You can tell that being back on campus was good for Kmet’s soul. He obviously loves everything about Notre Dame, and he knew it was best for him to bring the student part of his life to a proper close. Good on him.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Cole Kmet believes Bears have solid infrastructure in place for Caleb Williams

Everyone is well aware of the Bears’ historic quarterback woes. But Cole Kmet explained why it’s different with Caleb Williams.

The Chicago Bears are known for their legendary history of linebackers and running backs. But they’re also known for their woeful history of failed quarterbacks that has spanned decades.

It’s why many questioned the Bears finally managing to get it right with Caleb Williams, who is considered by many to be the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck.

During an appearance on “Up & Adams,” tight end (and childhood Bears fan) Cole Kmet explained why Williams might finally be the one to break the cycle of failed quarterbacks in Chicago.

“For the first time in a long time…we have an infrastructure in place for a high-end, talented rookie quarterback to come in,” Kmet said.

General manager Ryan Poles has overhauled the roster in a big way in less than three years, and that included building an ideal offense for his new rookie quarterback. Williams will have an arsenal of weapons — including DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, rookie Rome Odunze, D’Andre Swift and Kmet — an improved offensive line and a top-10 defense.  Not to mention, he’s got an incredibly high ceiling as a quarterback.

“Obviously Caleb’s very highly-touted. He’s been that way for a long time now,” Kmet said. “He gets to go into a situation with a lot of veteran-quality, good players and also a really good defense. I think it’s a good situation that lines up for him really well and for the rest of the team. That’s why I think it’s a little bit different.”

Williams will still have to prove himself on the field, and his rookie season likely won’t be all sunshine and roses as he makes his transition to the NFL. But this is the first time — in a long time, if ever — that a No. 1 pick quarterback is entering a situation that is setting him up for immediate rookie success — and beyond.