Bear Digest

Danger Cole Kmet sees from Colston Loveland is all for Bears opponents

Drafting a rookie tight end 10th overall isn't viewed by Cole Kmet as a threat to his job and he's hoping the combination in 12-personnel packages means winning for a change.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cole Kmet is enjoying all the attention to detail and also the mentoring he's doing under new coach Ben Johnson.
Cole Kmet is enjoying all the attention to detail and also the mentoring he's doing under new coach Ben Johnson. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Cole Kmet had to admit he was wondering what exactly was going on during the draft when Colston Loveland's name came out of commissioner Roger Goodell's mouth as the Bears' pick on draft day.

After all, Kmet is one of the two remaining draft picks with the team from the Ryan Pace era as GM, and a survivor of the Matt regimes—Nagy and Eberflus. What were they going to do with another tight end?

He quickly found out while talking to Ben Johnson about the emphasis on the 12-personnel package and two tight ends in this offense.

All of it explained, Kmet says he's totally on board.

"I think at first you're taken aback a little bit but Ben was awesome about it in terms of calling me right away and kind of explaining the decision," Kmet said Tuesday as Bears mandatory minicamp began. "You know from there you're just all on board on it.

"You kind of understand their vision. You understand that there's going to be areas where we complement each other and then there's obviously, just like in any position room, there's going to areas where we compete for things. And that's football and that's how it should be.  So I'm excited about it and I'm excited to not only push him and for him to push me and we're going to make each other better. And I think the goal with it is to become the best 12-tandem in the league and see where we can take it from there."

With the Lions running the 12-personnel a third of the time and ranking third in the league last year with Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright, it stands to reason that percentage could increase because of Kmet's status as one of the league's most sure-handed tight end targets combined with Loveland's explosive game.

"But I felt good about it leaving the conversation, and I know whenever you meet somebody for the first time, I’m still getting to know Ben, I don’t know where he stands on me, and quite frankly I don’t know where I stand on him because at that point you’re just meeting somebody," Kmet said. "I think those are healthy conversations to have.

"You’re just understanding their vision and their expectations for you as a player. It’s hard to come into work every day when you don’t know your set expectations. I think having those conversations kind of cleared the air a little bit."

Kmet finds himself in a role as a mentor for Loveland, now, and had to laugh about it because he's only 26 years old. Actually, there's not much mentoring right now on the field but is in the tight ends room because Loveland is still recovering from last season's shoulder surgery and not practicing. Still it's not quite mentoring like when Jimmmy Graham was Kmet's mentor as a rookie in 2020.

"Well, I haven’t really been asked to mentor per se," he said. "Like, I still got things that I got to work on and I got to achieve. Like, when I was a rookie, we had Jimmy (Graham) here, and Jimmy was like 32 or 33 at the time and—I don’t know if I should say this publicly, but he probably wouldn’t have said it then —(was) probably on the back end of his career at that point.

"I don’t necessarily feel like I’m at that stage of my career yet. Maybe a little different in that regard. But that being said, getting to know Colston has been great so far, and I want to give him as much knowledge as I can, give him all the things that I’ve learned, and get him up to pace as quickly as possible so that he can go out there and be the best football player that he can be this year and going forward. Yeah, so, I’m excited about that. It’s been awesome to get to know him in these past few weeks since he’s been drafted. I think he’s going to fit just fine in our room and in the offense as well."

Kmet's time with Graham came during the Matt Nagy era. After that regime and the Eberflus/Luke Getsy/Shane Waldron/Thomas Brown regime, he's naturally excited about working with a coach he sees as committed to his vision.

"I think what sticks out to Ben and this staff and just in general is just how detail-oriented they are," Kmet said. "You can feel that in the meetings, and they’re relentless on the details. I think that’s something that may be a little unique from what I’ve had in the past. Not saying other coaches weren’t detailed, but it’s like an obsession with the details and you can feel that from him (Johnosn). He just can’t let it go. You feel that from him, whether it’s on the field, in the meeting room, he brings that with him with wherever he’s at.”

Kmet got a little taste of this himself in the first week of OTAs when Johnson hollered at him about a detail missed.

"I mean, you name it, whether it’s Caleb (Williams), cadence or how he says a play in the huddle or with us, alignments and techniques and making the right calls, it’s every day and it’s relentless," Kmet said. "He’s definitely thrown a lot at us in this short time here in the spring, but I think he wants to challenge us as a group to see what we can handle. I think we’ve done a pretty good job so far. There’s definitely been some ups and downs throughout the way, but I think that’s kind of the method to the madness so far.”

It might all mean fewer catches or touches for Kmet. His catches dropped last year to 47 for 474 yards after a career-high 73 for 719 yards in 2023, but he'll give up the receptions for wins at this point if a coach with greater attention to details and use of two tight ends means a playoff berth.

“Yeah, well, I think it was needed," he said of Johnson. "I can say, like, well I’m going to go work out by myself in the offseason, and I can have a really good workout, a kick-ass workout, but if I don’t have somebody there pushing me, like have a partner to work out with and just kind of calling me out on the things that I’m doing and kind of holding me accountable to making sure that that sixth rep of the squat is going at 90 degrees, you’re not cheating that last rep.

"Ben kind of brings that presence for us offensively and the rest of the coaching staff. You definitely felt that through the spring and those are the things you need and need to be reminded of constantly. I don’t think anybody takes it personally. If he’s yelling or screaming, he wants what’s best for the team and he wants to win and at the end of the day that’s all that we want as well.”

It's all perfectly clear now.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.