Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet is expected to take a big step forward in year two here in 2021. After being selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, Kmet showed some signs of breaking out towards the end of his rookie season after a slow start.
But this offseason, Kmet has put in the work to get better and become a focal point in his offense. And that included studying tape of other tight ends including Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce and Mark Bavaro. For Kmet, he’s trying to mesh the play style of all three to become a complete tight end.
“Yeah, well obviously Coach worked with Travis back in Kansas City and that’s kind of what he’s familiar with, and you know, the play style that I kind of have looked at from college days has always been Bavaro types, Gronkowski types, so kind of meshing those two types of play styles together has been really beneficial for me this offseason,” Kmet said via the Bears YouTube. “So we watched a ton of Kelce tape when he was back in Kansas City on certain concepts and watching Gronk tape and how he uses his body. Things like that. So with my size and the way I’m able to move, I need to figure out what are my strengths and what are my weakness and how can I get better at those strengths and maximize those weaknesses.”
Interesting.
The tight end not only studied tape in the offseason but he was part of a group that participated in the first TE U summit in Nashville featuring the best tight ends in the game. And he got some more pointers from a former Bears tight end.
“Yeah so starting back during the Combine before I was drafted, Greg Olsen was doing a podcast deal and he reached out to me and we kind of have some mutual friends that he reached out through and he wanted to finish the podcast,” Kmet said. “He started with Ditka and kind of worked himself all the way up. It was a pretty cool podcast if you haven’t checked it out. Yeah so he hit me up and then George (Kittle) and Travis (Kelce) hit me up a little later one. They said, hey leave these dates open and we’re going to try to get something in where we get a bunch of guys together. . .. Yeah that was really cool. One of the coolest things I’ve done and get around all those guys. So being able to go get guys like Mike Gesicki and Hunter Henry and Travis and George and Greg and learn from those guys, that’s very beneficial for me. ”
Kmet is a player that can be used as a receiver or a run blocker in Nagy’s offense but the Bears want him to develop a little more. The next step is polishing his receiving skills to be a legit target down the field for the offense.
After finishing his rookie year with 28 receptions for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns, Kmet is hoping to improve on that big time and get those numbers a little higher. And modeling his game after those greats might be a good first start.
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