Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet is facing a potentially grim reality heading into the 2026 season, with training camp set to begin next week.
One of the Bears’ longest-tenured players and draft picks, Kmet is coming off his least-productive season statistically, and he is facing grim prospects of that improving in the upcoming campaign.
That puts an additional emphasis on taking advantage of their opportunities.
Bears’ Cole Kmet Gets Reminder About Down Season
Cole Kmet Faded in Bears’ Offense
The Bears selected Kmet, who turned 27 in March, in the second round with the 43rd overall pick of the 2020 draft.
He had 30 receptions for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns during the regular season. The yardage was his fewest since his rookie season, while receptions and yards both set or tied his second-fewest.
Yahoo Sports’ Hayden Winks shared a graphic that showed how Kmet tailed off in 2025.
The intent was to highlight tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III, but it served as a reminder for Kmet.
“Just to level set, this is the Bears usage and production from Week 9 on after Luther Burden and Colston Loveland began playing more,” Winks posted on X on July 22. “This was also when Rome Odunze was battling through his own injury.”
The only other player with a lower usage rate than Kmet, Durham Smythe, is gone.
He signed with the Baltimore Ravens, following former offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to the AFC North. However, the Bears drafted Sam Roush in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and he could be a bigger receiving threat than Smythe was.
The DJ Moore trade opens up targets that, even with Burden stepping into a larger role, will need to be spread out among the rest of the pass-catching corps.
That could trickle down to Kmet.
Heading into training camp, though, he is facing an uphill battle to see a significant uptick in his production. If there is a silver lining, it is that Kmet has some job security in that he is under contract through the 2027 season.
