Chicago Bears get a high-upside TE with Cole Kmet in 2nd round

The Chicago Bears used their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet, the best in a weak class at the position.

I wonder if Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace feel good about their tight end room just yet for the Chicago Bears.

The Bears had nine tight ends going into day two of the 2020 NFL Draft, and now they have 10 after making Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet the first tight end off the board.

Kmet was a one-year starter for the Fighting Irish, but it was a good year. He showed off his playmaking ability as a receiver and athleticism all throughout the season, finishing with 43 catches for 515 yards and six touchdowns.

He joins Jimmy Graham, Adam Shaheen, Demetrius Harris, and a host of other players at the tight end position for the Bears and might be taking Shaheen’s place, in all reality.

There’s no doubt about it — the Chicago Bears had a need at the tight end position heading into the 2020 offseason and their roster shuffling at the position is indicative that they felt it was maybe a primary area of weakness for them last season.

Kmet is a guy who, physically and athletically, sort of reminds me of another former Notre Dame tight end — Kyle Rudolph, now starring with the Minnesota Vikings.

Kmet is much more athletic than a lot of these clunky, muscled-up tight ends coming into the NFL lately. He has outstanding leaping ability, long speed, and provides the quarterback with a massive catch radius.

Obviously, the Bears really needed that with Mitch Trubisky in a critical juncture of his career and Nick Foles breathing down his neck for the starting QB position.

Kmet is going to give the Bears, if nothing else, a dynamic seam-stretcher at the position who can stay in line and block and provide their QB with a big red zone target.