Harsh Rookie Reality Faces Cole Kmet, Jaylon Johnson
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson and tight end Cole Kmet faced difficult circumstances trying to compete as rookies with NFL veterans under normal conditions.
Trying to fit in immediately as starters or key role players with the Chicago Bears this year could seem all the more trying for them due to the lack of offseason work, but Bears coaches see reasons why both could develop fast enough to be contributors.
New Bears tight ends coach Clancy Barone went through double the Kmet situation in 2011 and pointed to that season's labor strife as an example of what can be done by rookies.
"I was in Denver at the time and we drafted two tight ends that year, Julius Thomas and Virgil Green," Barone said. "It was the same thing. Both of them came in without having a chance—at least this year we're doing virtual things, back then we couldn't even do that. So there is somewhat of a learning curve.
"But both of those guys hit it with full strides and did well in that year. The one advantage this year is that we have had a chance to go over the playbook with Cole and he's a quick study. The guy I think lives and breathes and eats and whatever else football. He's a football junkie and that certainly is going to bode well and help him with that whole learning curve and help him I guess hit the ground running."
Both Green and Thomas became key players over their course of their careers, but definitely went through the usual difficulties most NFL tight ends experience as rookies.
Thomas made the Pro Bowl in back-to-back years but not until he'd been in the league three years. He made one rookie reception. Green had three rookie catches and never made more than 15 until his sixth season.
Barone called it an advantage for Kmet in this situation to be coming in from Notre Dame
"They have produced pretty good tight ends at that school, going all the way back to Dave Kasper and whatever else," Barone said. 'He fits in that mold of all those Irish tight ends, right? Kyle Rudolph. They're the same kind of body type and so forth.
"But I look at him and he’s got great body control and he goes up and makes hard catches look routine. And there’s times where maybe the ball wasn't on his body, but he has great length and can pivot and make the hard catch seem easy. I see him as a blocker, a guy who is certainly willing."
The signings of Jimmy Graham and Demetrius Harris give Kmet time to fit into the offense.
In Johnson's case, the Bears have to hope Johnson steps up enough immediately to win the starting right cornerback spot from a handful of veterans like Kevin Toliver II or Artie Burns after cutting starter Prince Amukamara.
The adjustment going from a defense where he played mostly man-to-man coverage and covered the opposition's best receiver on either side of the formation can b an obstacle. In the Bears' scheme, Johnson would play in mixed coverages and stay on his side of the field.
"But the thing I liked was the ability that you saw a guy that played man for most of his career, a guy who knew that if he got beat they probably were coming back," secondary coach Deshea Townsend said. "So you saw some of that mental toughness that you have to have in this league."
A real obstacle for a player like Johnson in an offseason without on-field work could be the basics of hand usage in NFL zone coverage as opposed to college man-to-man defense.
"You have to use your hands, but there's a certain time to use them and a certain time to not," defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. "But as a rookie, there's always going to be a learning curve."
Pagano called this aspect something coaches try to correct quickly on the field.
"We're going to be very critical of when you use your hands," Pagano said. "That's one thing that happens from college to the pros is we know after 5 (yards), they're throwing (a flag). There's not going to be just one flag, there's going to be 20.
"For us, that's just a teaching point and coaching method of what we talk about daily.
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