Cole Kmet Now Admits He's Thankful Bears Drafted Colston Loveland

It was an uncomfortable feeling when the news dropped. Cole Kmet had been the unquestioned tight end for the Chicago Bears pretty much since 2021, his second season in the league. Despite so many offensive coaching issues in that time, he's developed into a good player. However, the arrival of a new staff brought a new vision for the offense. Head coach Ben Johnson weaponizes the tight end better than most in the NFL. True to that vision, he urged GM Ryan Poles to draft athletic specimen Colston Loveland 10th overall.

Many felt this might be the first sign that Chicago was preparing to phase Kmet out. The veteran admitted he had similar feelings as well. Johnson made sure to call and assure him that the decision was less about Kmet and more about what the pair of them could do for the offense. There was little choice but to trust him. A few months later, Kmet's tune completely changed. After the Bears' 38-0 preseason stomping of Buffalo, he explained to the media that having Loveland on the field has made life so much easier than he expected.

“When you have Colston out there, what’s nice is now I get matched up with a linebacker instead of a safety,” he said. “In previous years, when we were in 12, I would more likely get the safety. Now, if they go man (coverage), I am getting the backer, which is a huge advantage for me. I can run away from a backer pretty easily.

“And then if they decide to go nickel, good luck stopping us in the run game. There are a lot of advantages we can get from using it.”

Cole Kmet knows his limitations, and so do the coaches.

He's got the size and strength. What he never had was the speed. He is fast enough to outpace most linebackers, but safeties in general have too much range to escape. Loveland is a different animal. His greater speed and route-running skills present a far more dangerous matchup, which forces opposing defenses to devote their safeties to dealing with him. Now you have no choice but to put a linebacker on Cole Kmet. As he showed on Sunday night, that leads to bad things like a 29-yard chunk play up the seam. It is a pick-your-poison situation. That is what Johnson was going for all along, and something he didn't have in Detroit. That is what makes the Bears' offense potentially even more dangerous than the one he left behind.