In ‘RoboCop’ Cole Kmet, Bears Find Ideal Fit And Project A High Ceiling
Matt Nagy had the nickname picked out before his team even made the pick. The Chicago Bears head coach, finally able to connect with Cole Kmet after two dropped calls, greeted his team’s first draft pick with a flattering sobriquet.
“Is this RoboCop?” Nagy asked.
Kmet, amid a chorus of cheers from his family, bellowed “Yeahhh, what’s up!”
The moniker reflects what the Bears saw in Kmet, Notre Dame’s latest tight end product, to make him the No. 43 overall pick in this weekend’s NFL Draft. As enjoyable as the weekend was for Kmet and his family to watch him become a member of their favorite team, the pairing is as much about the Bears’ need for tight end production and Kmet’s fit into the role.
Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace envision Kmet sliding into a spot that hasn’t brought much to the Bears offense lately: The “Y,” more of a traditional in-line receiver and blocker as opposed to a “move” tight end who spends more time split wide. The good ones, as Nagy’s nickname suggests, are commodities. New Tampa Bay Buccaneer Rob Gronkowski is the standard. He is one tight end Kmet tries to model himself after.
“It’s hard to find these ‘Y’ tight ends that are really well-rounded in that he’s an asset in the pass game because of his size and his hands,” Pace told reporters on a conference call Saturday. “He’s one of those guys who knows how to post up, body and push off.”
The Bears project more growth. Notre Dame witnessed it for three years in the exact same spot. Each year, Kmet’s role grew as the athleticism he brought at 6-6 and 262 pounds became more polished and therein harder to keep on the sideline.
“I’m a versatile guy in terms of being able to split outside, go in-line, line up in the backfield,” Kmet said. “There are a lot of things coach Nagy and the offensive staff want to do with me.”
“I’m an aggressive player. I don’t go down on first contact. I like to run through guys.”
Kmet was a deep reserve as a freshman, catching two passes. He ascended to the No. 2 role as a sophomore and offered a 15-catch sample size of the possibility of him as a starter. He was the favorite for the starting job heading into 2019, seized the work in training camp and snatched it right back after missing Notre Dame’s first two games due to a broken collarbone suffered in training camp.
That first game, a 23-17 loss to Georgia Sept. 21, Kmet had nine catches for 108 yards and a touchdown against a defense full of former five-star recruits or future draft picks. In 11 games, he totaled the third-best single-season output for a Notre Dame tight end since 2005 in terms of catches (43) and receiving yards (515). It felt rather effortless. As quickly as he broke out, he was gone. He left for the draft with one year of eligibility left.
Nagy, in a Saturday conference call with Chicago reporters, said he first watched Kmet a couple days after the Bears’ 2019 season ended. The need was clear then. No Bears tight end topped 100 receiving yards for the season, a mark of futility the franchise had not seen since 1970.
“When the season ended, after all our player exit interviews, things slowed down for about 24 hours and for some crazy reason we went straight to the tape and started looking at some tight ends,” Nagy said. “Just coincidentally, he happened to be a guy we popped on and started to go with. We were joking that he’s like ‘RoboCop’ in that he can block, catch, do a lot of good things.”
At this point, the blocking is still more projection that finished product. Notre Dame’s role for Kmet included frequent run-blocking assignments, but his ability there hasn’t caught up to his pass-catching prowess. Pro Football Focus gave him a below-average 56.9 run-blocking grade, though it was an increase from his sophomore year’s 50.1.
“He has the strength and temperament we want in the run game,” Pace said. “We feel like his blocking is still improving. There’s a lot of upside in that area.”
Added Bears area scout Scott Hamel: “He’s very physical in-line.”
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, in a pre-draft scouting report, wrote despite needed blocking improvements, Kmet is a “dependable and physically impressive pass catcher who doesn’t have a deal-breaking weakness to his game.”
The Bears were comfortable making Kmet the first tight end drafted and only one chosen in the first 90 picks despite nine tight ends already on their roster. They added two in free agency: ex-Green Bay Packer Jimmy Graham and Demetrius Harris, who Nagy coached with Kansas City Chiefs. None, though, profile as “RoboCops.” In making the pick, the Bears brought to life the front office adage that names on the depth chart don’t equal players on the depth chart.
"You really have two different styles to tight ends in this offense,” Pace said. “You have the ‘U’ tight end; that would apply more to Jimmy Graham, and you have the ‘Y’ tight end, which is a little bit more of an in-line guy, good in the run game and he needs to have the size to be able to do that, and that's what we see in Cole.
“He pairs really well with Jimmy, pairs really well with Demetrius. We’re excited to take that position and make it a strength. They all do different things.”
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