It’s time for the third article in our “The Case for” series, and this time we are looking at tight end. I know Bears fans will look at this article and go, here’s a guy who’s going to bag on Cole Kmet and say we need to replace him.
Nope, I’m not. But the Chicago Bears still need another good-quality TE on the roster.
Before we dive into the draft, let’s take a minute to talk about Kmet. Kmet is a solid player. I like Kmet. Heck, he’s from my hometown. Kmet is a good football player, and he’s on a solid contract for his production. But Kmet won’t ever be great.
That’s okay, he doesn’t have to be. Cole doesn’t do many things at an excellent level, but he does everything at an above-average level or better, and that’s a compliment, not an insult.
Kmet is a big target, has learned to create some space for himself to catch balls, can truck a guy if need be, and has become a decent blocker in both the running game and in pass protection.
He’s not going to confuse you with Travis Kelce in the open field. He’s not going to confuse you with George Kittle when he’s blocking, but he’s going to be better than most players in the league at both, and that’s a valuable asset on the roster.
Kmet should see his offensive production uptick this year with Ben Johnson. We all know Shane Waldron and the subsequent two other offensive coordinators last year (it really is remarkable that Caleb Williams had three offensive coordinators as a rookie, mindboggling really) did an awful job incorporating Kmet into the gameplan. Heck, it was clear in week one that Waldron thought Gerald Everett would be a bigger contributor to his offense than Kmet.
But the selection of TE here isn’t about Kmet, it’s about 12 personnel. I know Johnson used a lot of 6 OL formations last year in Detroit, and I’m sure he’s going to use them this year in Chicago if the Bears have a decent 6th OL to put out there, but this goes to formation flexibility. The Bears right now can run 3-receiver sets with 1 TE and 1 RB. They can’t put out any other formation without taking a hit on talent. Durham Smythe is not a TE2.
Johnson likes to merge multiple offensive concepts and create his own offense with it. He molds his offense around the talent he has. Just because he didn’t use a lot of 12 in Detroit, doesn’t mean he won’t use it in Chicago if the talent dictates it.
The bottom line here is drafting someone like Tyler Warren gives the Bears a lot of flexibility with their offense. Warren likes to block and wants to get better. He does need to improve in that department, but if you watch him, you can see the desire he has to want to dominate the defender. He can line up all over the field so Johnson can use him as a receiver or put him in line. He can do interesting things with him and Kmet on the field at the same time. Johnson can create mismatches with both of them, and that’s what he wants to do.
Adding Warren to this offense will give Caleb Williams another weapon. Right now, if we’re being honest, Williams only has DJ Moore and Rome Odunze to throw to as weapons and Kmet as a safety valve. He needs more options, they need to expand this for Williams and Warren is a great place to start.
But it doesn’t stop there; if Warren is off the board, Colston Loveland will definitely be available. Loveland is a great pass-catching TE from Michigan who also projects to become a handy weapon for any offense. Loveland probably doesn’t give Johnson as much flexibility from a formation standpoint as Warren and Kmet would, but Loveland has a higher ceiling as a pass-catcher. Being able to use Kmet as your inline TE with Loveland split out, creating mismatches is also something that Johnson would be able to utilize at an elite level.
You have to love players who are too big to be defended by secondary players and too quick and agile to be covered by linebackers. That’s who Loveland can be.
I know fans are pounding the table for offensive line or running back. But don’t sleep on tight end. Adding a versatile tight end ot this roster would finally give the Bears two viable TEs, something they haven’t had in probably a decade, and would start to give Johnson options that he could scheme up to create major problems for defenses. Tight End at 10? Yes please.