Why Chicago Bears Won't Cut Ties With Veteran Dubbed 'Most Valuable Trade Chip'

All offseason long we have been bombarded with articles talking about Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet as a trade candidate.

Now we have another one, as FanSided's Winston Wilcox named Kmet the Bears' "most valuable trade chip," and he thinks Chicago should and will go ahead and trade the veteran tight end.

"It was honestly surprising to see Cole Kmet survive last season with the Chicago Bears," Wilcox wrote. "When Chicago drafted Colston Loveland, it felt pretty clear the Bears were keen on replacing Kmet immediately. They didn’t get it done in 2025, but they’re getting it done this year. Kmet had a decent role with the offense last year with 347 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. He’ll carve out a niche with another team this year, especially if the Bears want to upgrade their defensive line."

Why Cole Kmet is viewed as a trade candidate

As Wilcox rightly notes, the draft selection of Colston Loveland last year fueled the fire that Kmet could be traded.

And those flames were fanned even more during the 2026 NFL Draft, when the Bears unexpectedly selected Sam Roush in the third round.

On the surface, that seems like overkill at the tight end position, but there's a few good explanations for why the Bears have no intention of moving Kmet.

Why Bears won't trade Cole Kmet

For starters, Kmet said he never feared being moved based on the conversations he had with head coach Ben Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles, so there's that.

"Got to my exit meeting with them about right after the game against LA. If you were to ask me right after that, I didn't think I was going anywhere," Kmet explained. "Kind of felt that throughout the offseason. Look, Ryan and Ben, I really take them at their word for what they say. They're very honest guys. They expressed an interest in me being here, staying here and all that."

Then, there's this: few teams in the NFL utilized multiple tight ends as often as the Chicago Bears did in 2026.

When it comes to 12 personnel, the Bears utilized the formation at a 32.64% clip, according to Sumer Sports, which ranked sixth in the NFL.

Taking it a step further, the Bears also ranked fifth in 13 personnel rate, with Chicago using three tight ends 8.52% of the time.

And that percentage doesn't even really do the Bears' usage of three tight ends justice because they were using that formation more and more as the season progressed.

That, along with the selection of Roush, are possible indications that the Bears plan on using 13 personnel even more in 2026.

Even if that isn't the plan, we know the Bears are still giong to use two tight ends often and depending on a rookie in Roush to take the reins of such a big role as the secondary tight end right away would be a massive risk for Chicago.

So, it only makes sense to hold on to Kmet for one more season to see if Roush can prove he's capable of being Loveland's long-term running mate. And if he can do that during the season, the Bears are going to have a lethal tight end trio for 13 personnel.

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