Notre Dame coach is convinced Bears draft pick Kmet is the real deal
Is Cole Kmet, the hometown kid the Bears made their first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, truly a big-time prospect ready to make an impact at the next level?
According to ESPN analyst and twice-failed NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum, he isn't fast enough and opposing defenses won't have to account for him in the Bears‘ passing game.
“I coached him and I don't remember Mike being at any of our practices as he ran down the middle of the field,” said Brian Kelly, Kmet's head coach at Notre Dame, on Tuesday.
“He's got plenty of speed.
“I've had Travis Kelce, Tyler Eifert, Kyle Rudolph, I've had a number of tight ends that are doing exceedingly well and have been All Pros in the NFL.
“Cole Kmet will be in line with all of those guys.”
Wow, Kelly just set the bar awfully high for his latest tight end protégé while meeting with the media Tuesday.
Many may have forgotten Kelly developed Kelce at Cincinnati before moving on to Notre Dame, and Kelce is the player Matt Nagy would most like to model his tight ends after.
You can bet the Bears' coaches and scouts dug in deeply with Kelly before finalizing their evaluation.
Kmet and Kelce are nearly identical in size, speed, athletic ability and playing style, but Kmet obviously has a long way to go to develop those skills to the degree Kelce has.
One reason to believe Kmet's ceiling is exceedingly high, though, is that until recently his focus was split evenly between baseball and football.
“I said this to a number of GMs and coaches that I talked to in the evaluation process,” Kelly said. “In Cole I thought there was a lot of growth there still for him. Clearly his athletic ability shows itself right.
“His physicality, look at the Georgia game coming off an injury he ran through a very good defense in Georgia.
“You know his route-running, I think he'll get a chance to work on that on a day-to-day basis. Remember this is a full-time job now; he doesn't have to worry about academics.
“He'll be much better at route-running.
“In-line blocking, the technique associated with combination blocks, working with the offensive line, all those areas he's going to be able to really elevate his technical game.”
Kelly also offered an excellent assessment when he was asked where he thought Kmet fits with the Bears' nine other tight ends on the roster and why he thought the Bears would add another one.
“I mean look, the Chicago Bears is an operation that understands clearly their personnel and they would not have drafted Cole Kmet if he was their 10th TE.
“He clearly is an investment, a large financial investment, I think in the neighborhood of a $3 million signing bonus.
“You don't make those kind of investments unless you know what you're getting, and what they're getting is an athletic tight end that is going to impact their offense immediately.”
Does the Notre Dame head coach see Kmet as a future leader of the Bears franchise?
“You know, look, early on everybody has to find their place, and Cole was respected immediately just by his work ethic, doing the right things, living up to the standards that are set for the program, so everybody you know obviously looks towards those guys that are doing the right things on a day– to–day basis and Cole certainly was doing that.”
You can be in my business a long time before you'll find a college head coach who isn't going to pump up any of his alum as they head for the NFL.
But it has been oft- and well-documented that Kelly is a guy with strong NFL head coaching aspirations of his own, and he does himself no favors by overhyping his players to NFL teams if, in fact, he fears they are going to disappoint.
After hearing Kelly's evaluation, it seems clear Kmet was a very solid fit where the Bears chose him, and he does arrive with a very high ceiling and a fairly high floor.
Now it's up to Kmet to prove just how high he can soar.
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