After just two preseason games and about three weeks of training camp, Pro Football Focus came up with a ridiculous take on Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet.
This offseason, Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles made it a point of overhauling the offense. He solidified every position on the unit in preparation for selecting quarterback Caleb Williams with the number one overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
One of the positions that saw an upgrade was the tight ends unit. Last season, the Chicago Bears had Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan, and Marcedes Lewis. There was production coming from just one of them, Kmet. He was one of the bright spots on the offense, finishing the season with 73 catches for 719 yards and 6 touchdowns.
The other two tight ends combined for 15 catches for 141 yards and one touchdown.
This offseason, Poles acquired Gerald Everett. Everett will provide a lot of production. He amassed 400+ receiving yards the last five seasons. Additionally, he has 14 touchdowns during that time.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Poles and the Chicago Bears hope that Everett will provide much-needed help to Kmet. Shane Waldron is the new offensive coordinator and he loves to use two-tight ends sets. That means he needs two productive tight ends to run those sets. He looks to have that in Kmet and Everett.
While it is great to see Kmet and Everett work together. However, some feel there is a change in the air. Pro Football Focus, for example, feels that Everett has passed Kmet in the depth chart.
Nathan Jahnke wrote about that recently. After just 18 snaps and about three weeks of training camp, he feels that Everett is the Chicago Bears’ TE1 now.
Everett appears to be ahead of Cole Kmet in the Bears’ tight end rotation. Everett started the game with Kmet but then played each of the next two snaps out of 11 personnel. The Bears continued to rotate the tight ends, at times with both on the field and at times with just one, with Everett taking more snaps and running more routes than Kmet. This included Everett playing all of the passing plays on third down.
© Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
This is a laughable assertion. Kmet is still TE1. Jahnke feels that since the playing time was higher for Everett it means Everett is the starter. Well, all of the other starters had fewer snaps than their backups. D’Andre Swift played only a few snaps. However, he made an impact by taking a dump pass and taking it 42 yards.
Kmet also made an impact. He and Williams connected on a beautiful play. The play showcased Williams’ strong arm. He rolled out to his right, did a pump fake, and then threw a sidearm pass that was perfectly pinpointed into Kmet’s hands. That play has gone viral. It shows how things can be with Williams.
Caleb Williams said that the team has been repping what became this outstanding corner route completion to Cole Kmet out of boot, where Williams went all Matrix. pic.twitter.com/C45tj9b3Mb
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 13, 2024
Last season the Chicago Bears rewarded Kmet with a four-year, $50 million contract extension. He continued his good play last season. After going on a 28-game scoring drought between 2020 and 2022, he has now had 13 touchdowns in his last 27 games. He has become a top-ten tight end in the league.
© Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK
Everett is coming in to enhance the tight ends unit not to overtake Kmet. Kmet will still be the main guy. The difference this season will be that he will have help. Everett will take some attention so that will open space for Kmet and vice versa.
With the Chicago Bears having an excellent wide receivers unit, an improved tight ends unit just makes the offense that more dangerous. If the offense clicks the way the team expects, this will be a very fun season of Chicago Bears football.
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