Bears Fired Up for Tight End Cole Kmet
Tight end Cole Kmet will get to live his dream by playing in the NFL, but also for his childhood team, the Chicago Bears.
Chicago took the Kmet with the 43rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and Bears scout Scott Hamel spoke on the Notre Dame product with Jeff Joniak.
"We spent a lot of time with Cole in the pre-draft process," stated Hamel. "I know he grew up a Bears fan and went to St. Viator High School and grew up in Lake Barrington. It's something he's really looking forward to and he sees it as an honor to be part of the Bears family."
Kmet played in just 23 games for the Irish, but that didn't keep him from being the top tight end in the draft as his play spoke volumes.
"Cole is a really tough football player," Hamel explained. "He's a well-balanced tight end, very athletic, very physical in line and he's a guy who is a wide tight end as he projects down the road.
"He does both things very well. He catches the ball well and he blocks well. We're thrilled to have him and he's going to add a lot of value to our tight end room."
The Bears were also impressed with Kmet's baseball career at Notre Dame as the Irish coaches spoke extremely highly of how he handled juggling two sports.
"He did both and that's one example that they used to speak to Cole's character," Hamel said of Kmet's playing two sports. "The football team gave him the opportunity to go play baseball in the spring. He said no way, I'll do both and balanced both. He never missed practice on either side. That's who he is and how he's wired. It's his DNA.
"He's a true team player. He has outstanding leadership traits and qualities. He's the type of guy who would have been a captain if he had returned to Notre Dame next year."
The 6-foot-6, 262-pounder entered the 2019 season with just 17 catches for 176 yards, but NFL teams quickly saw what the Notre Dame coaches had been telling them about as Kmet had himself a game in Athens against Georgia.
"Cole was out with a collarbone for the first portion of the season," stated Hamel. "You heard all these great things about him. We hadn't seen enough of him.
"The Georgia game would be the one I'd pinpoint. He came back and didn't skip a beat. He caught nine balls against a tough SEC team. He stood out as one of the more talented guys on the field. You knew from that moment he was going to be impressive for the reason of the season. He was a legit early-round prospect."
The Bears will use Kmet in a variety of ways and hope he'll turn into a big-time threat for Mitch Trubisky, who needs all the weapons he can get.
"He's a versatile guy," said Hamel. "He's got the speed to stretch the field vertically and he's a big body in the red zone to go up and get it. He's a tough matchup problem.
"He's also got really good body control on short and intermediate routes. He's going to be a matchup nightmare for guys trying to come at him in the NFC North."