Bear Digest

Cole Kmet Already Sounds Resigned to Fate for This Bears Offseason

The Chicago area native is often mentioned as a possible cap cut victim or player to be traded, and in a radio interview acknowledged the factors pointing to this.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cole Kmet makes the touchdown catch on Caleb Williams' miraculous throw to tie it against the Rams.
Cole Kmet makes the touchdown catch on Caleb Williams' miraculous throw to tie it against the Rams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

When the Bears' season ended and a few veterans in the locker room started to look ahead while talking with reporters, several spoke of extending the excitement of 2025 going forward.

One voice in particular took a much more realistic look at everything and for good reason. It was tight end Cole Kmet, who knew better than most of the younger players how fleeting success can be, and how each NFL season can be unconnected to others.

There was another good reason and this was the uncertainty of his own status. Although his contract runs through 2027, Kmet acknowledged after the game how nothing was promised to anyone, including himself regarding the Bears' future. 

On Monday during an appearance on WSCR's Rahimi, Harris and Grote, Kmet sounded more resigned to the possibility the Bears could either trade or cut him.  He wasn't saying he's been told this, but he's seen it all in the past with other players.

"Well it definitely is very real," he said of chances he could be dispatched. "I know it's real because I've seen it happen before. I mean, that's just the nature of the business in this league."

Kmet told Mark Grote and Marshall Harris he found it to be a "ruthless" league, and he was probably taken by surprise by this in his first two seasons but not now.

Kmet and wide receiver DJ Moore both have been mentioned prominently in speculation about players being traded or cut. They probably were the team’s key receivers before last sason.

"But I think at this point, in this stage of my career, you're kind of accepting of it and understanding it's just part of the deal," Kmet said "And especially like a guy like myself or you're talking about DJ or other guys who have played a little bit and you're on a second deal, unfortunately as you age you get more expensive and you may not fit as a piece of the puzzle that I was talking about. That's just the nature of the business."

With Kmet, it's double trouble. He not only makes a lot with the 11th largest team cap figure ($11.6 millon) but he isn't the ideal piece at tight end that Colston Loveland seems to be.

Loveland is more of a down-the-field threat drafted specifically with Ben Johnson's offense in mind as a Sam LaPorta type. Meanwhile, Kmet is an in-line tight end used in Johnson's attack mainly as a blocker.

Yet, Pro Football Focus had Loveland graded 12th among tight  end who threw at least 100 run blocks and Kmet 35th.

Kmet already sounded like he has a foot outside the door despite being a native suburban Chicagoan and former Notre Dame player with the 10th most receptions (288) at any position in franchise history and second-most TD catches among tight ends (21). 

"However it works out, it works out," Kmet said. "For me personally, I felt like I did a lot of good things this year in the role I was in and had a lot of fun playing with this team. And, like I said after the game with the Rams, it is going to be different next year despite who's here but I think going forward this is an organization that you want to be a part of.

'I'm sure they're going to have no problem bringing in the guys they want to bring in free agent-wise and selling them on a Super Bowl run this upcoming year."

The Bears need to be very sure what they're doing here because good blocking tight ends are not necessarily easy to find, especially ones who can contribute immediately like the Bears would need next year in the draft should Kmet be discarded.

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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.