Cole Kmet Labeled Underrated Performer

With the addition of DJ Moore to the Bears offense, return of Darnell Mooney and virtually a new group of running backs, it's easy to forget about what they've done at tight end.

This goes with narrative as Bears tight end Cole Kmet was named on Good Morning Football as one of the league's underrated performers this week.

Adding Robert Tonyan now improves the attack's versatility and chance for tight ends to become more important. The Bears used backup tight end Ryan Griffin on only 18% of snaps when he was healthy and available last year and third tight end Trevon Wesco on 21%. The amount of double-tight end formations or even three tight ends could go up significantly.

What could be as big for the tight ends in terms of production, though, is simply system knowledge. Tonyan already had it from playing in the offense at Green Bay. Kmet now does after leading the Bears in touchdown catches last year, and he thinks it means starting off much faster than last season.

"So instead of seeing what route you're running, you knowwhat route and you know how to adjust off man versus (cover-)two versus (cover-)four," Kmet said. "You know, those type of things."

Kmet already saw this type of thing last year near midseason when the offense started as stretch of five games averaging 29.6 points per game, before injuries hit Darnell Mooney, Teven Jenkins and others.

"I think it was just more the offense was growing, and that kind of helps the situation statistically speaking," Kmet said. "So yeah, we had a good little stretch there in the middle of the season. Maybe we didn't really end the season how we wanted to. But we're working hard to amend that so we can get a fast start going this year."

There's more to the tight end position than catching passes and Kmet probably adds this more than Tonyan as a bigger player and blocker in the run game.

"It's very important to be a point-of-attack blocker and either you have it or you don't, somebody that craves violence in the run game," tight ends coach Jim Dray said of Kmet. "And he has that. So we can kind of harness that like we did last year and this year for sure."

Does it all do enough to bring tight end from an accessory position in the attack to a more elite level like with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers?

The possibility of a third tight end from among veteran addition Stephen Carlson and second-year players Chase Allen and Jake Tonges can Heree of help situationally.

Here's how the position looks as they head toward July 25 reporting day for training camp.

The Starter

Cole Kmet: No. 85, the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder enters a fourth season needing a new contract. Kmet's yards per catch have gone up each season, reaching 10.9 last year. His touchdown catches hit a high at seven. He also improved his catch percentage for a third straight season to 72.5% and his Pro Football Focus run-blocking grade for the third straight year. He reached the top 10 to ninth overall as a run blocker. Still, there is room to grow as he was only PFF's 20th best overall tight end. Kmet tied for fifth overall in the NFL in red zone TD catches with six and led the Bears with seven TD catches.

The Backups

Robert Tonyan: No. 18, the 6-5, 237-pound former Packers tight end from McHenry, IL elevates the overall tight end group as a player who has had 50 or more receptions twice in a five-year career. He bounced back last year from an ACL tear in 2021 to make a career-high 53 catches, although his yards per catch declined significantly to a career-low 8.9. Tonyan said he didn't feel 100% until the last month of the season, so a better ability to get downfield is possible, either on routes or after catches. He did average 12 yards a catch over the final five games. Tonyan may rate as a backup but his abilities could give the Bears more cause to got with two tight ends than in the past, although this might be difficult when they have both DJ Moore and Chase Claypool added to Darnell Mooney as wide receivers. They'll look to find a balance.

Stephen Carlson: No. 88, the 6-4, 240-pound undrafted free agent from Princeton is on the comeback trail after appearing in 27 games for the Browns in 2019 and 2020. He suffered a torn ACL and hasn't played in the regular season since the 2020 season. Carlson has been on a field for only 294 offensive plays in his career and has six career catches for 62 yards but was primarily a run-blocking tight end. The Bears lost blocking tight end Trevon Wesco in free agency, and he actually had PFF blocking grades higher than Kmet's for very few appearances, so it wasn't entirely a minor setback. So there is a niche Carlson could fill.

Jake Tonges: No. 81, the 6-4, 240-pound former California player signed as an undrafted free agent last year and had very little exposure. He eventually got onto the field for 16 offensive plays and 11 special teams plays in four games after a preseason when he made one catch for a 2-yard TD. He made 47 receptions for 620 yards and four TDs at Cal.

Chase Allen: No. 87, the 6-7, 250-pound former Iowa State player, signed as an undrafted free agent last year and was a practice squad player who got onto the field for only two offensive plays and seven special teams plays against Buffalo late in the year. He made two catches for 6 yards in the preseason. He had 74 catches for 810 yards and six TDs in college.

2023 Prospectus

There is the chance for more production from the tight end position than at any time since Martellus Bennett was with the Bears but it would be from two players. They need to sort out how much of the two-tight end attack they would use and the tight ends need to bring more yards after the catch to the attack, if not yards per catch. Against zone defenses, this could be possible with secondaries trying to compensate for DJ Moore's presence and clearing out areas the tight ends could exploit.

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