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Bear Digest

How Large Bears Signing Could Eventually Lead to a Cole Kmet Move

Cole Kmet has his job and is a valued player in the eyes of the Bears but it's possible Sam Roush and an undrafted player they signed could alter that scenario.
Gene Chamberlain|
Iowa tight end Hayden Large runs for extra yards after a catch against Oregon.
Iowa tight end Hayden Large runs for extra yards after a catch against Oregon. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Cole Kmet received extensive job assurances from both Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles throughout last week’s draft.  

That's fine for print and broadcast to calm down fans, and good probably for everything up to and including training camp or later.  

However, during virtually every season, NFL teams will get through preparations for the coming season and discover the talent they've brought in can do the job sufficiently or even better than higher-paid veterans. Then trades get made.

If preseason/training camp doesn't effectively convince them to trade or keep a player, the first half of the season can. Then the trade occurs before the trading deadline, at the end of October or in early November. 

The possibility of a Kmet trade will loom in the distance because of their selection in Round 3 of Stanford tight end Sam Roush during the draft on Friday, but also because of one Large signing. 

Second-round draft pick Logan Jones was not the only Iowa blocker the Bears had interest in, apparently. According to CBS' college reporter Matt Zenitz, the Bears have signed Iowa tight end Hayden Large as an undrafted free agent.  

Undrafted players face long odds making a roster, but Large fits exactly what the Bears are looking for from a third tight end. It doesn't take a vivid imagination to see him eventually having a role with the team. It could even be a role that contributes toward making Kmet expendable. 

Here's how.

1. Large the blocker 

While at Iowa, Large was not much of a pass catcher, making only 14 receptions for 89 yards. He was a 250-pound jackhammer, though. Coaches deployed him as a fullback out of the backfield on occasion, besides letting him be an in-line blocker. He was a special-teams player and basically lined up wherever they needed someone blocked.

A third tight end's major duty would be blocking, but the Bears' extensive use of three-tight end personnel packages would mean he might occasionally get involved as a receiver. 

2. Effort guy 

Large's background fits exactly the type of player profile Ben Johnson said he likes, and especially saw in Roush when they drafted him.  When Johnson described Roush, he might as well have been describing Large. 

"He's a finisher through the whistle. I think that showed up on a consistent basis," Johnson said about Roush. "It didn't matter who he was blocking, could be a big guy, could be a little DB, and he consistently finished through the whistle each and every play.  

"You always love it when you when you take a player and you get a text message from somebody, one of his coaches at Stanford, said, 'He will crush himself to do whatever he can to help the football team.' And it just verifies what you all already thought about the player. So, feel good about that one." 

This is the type of player Large was at Iowa, though not the pass catcher Roush was.  
For the third tight end role, Large wouldn't need to be someone who was as heavily involved as a receiver. Still, he's capable and did that as well as play quarterback and other positions while he was in high school. 

3. The high character 

Large displayed exemplary character at Iowa. He was a walk-on, because he suffered a freak severe injury during his senior year of high school. He tore his hamstring to the point where it pulled off a piece of his pelvis.  

Large fought his way into prominence at Iowa and then proved to be a source of leadership and inspiration for teammates, often delivering motivational talks. 
Johnson's description for what the Bears look for in players besides the skill set they see on tape only verifies Large could be the type of player they like. 

"We look at the personal character, the football character, the makeup and all that, and that checks the boxes," Johnson said.  

Future considerations

Of course, they're not trading Kmet now because all of this is for the future. With Roush, Colston Loveland and Kmet, the Bears might have the best tight ends room in the league.   

There is certainty with Kmet and not with in-coming rookies. Roush or Large could come in and not be the players they hoped as rookies, or they could suffer injuries. Then all of the speculation gets completely dashed.  

It's just that in an NFL based on salary cap, and with a roster that has other deficiencies, it wouldn't be a ridiculous notion to think they could eventually trade Kmet. And with his contract expiring after 2027, and after last week's restructuring of his deal, the ideal time for a trade is after 2026. This gives them a full season to break in both Rousch and Large.

It would all depend this year on what they could get out of Roush, and even Large.

Even if they have Kmet through the end of his contract, Large could be the kind of player who makes keeping four tight ends on the roster a consideration. They've done it in the past with players of less blocking skill or leadership ability.

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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.