Cole Kmet’s – Cole Kmet has outlasted general manager changes, coaching hires and multiple quarterback reboots with the Bears—then backed it up with a $50 million extension and a willingness to do whatever the offense asks, even as new tight ends arrive.
When Cole Kmet walks into Halas Hall. the roster keeps changing around him—but his role keeps finding a way to stick. Bears coach Ben Johnson has made it clear he values the versatile tight end. and Kmet laughs at the rhythm of it: in two of Johnson’s first drafts. Johnson pushed to add another tight end. first selecting Colston Loveland at No. 10 overall last year and then taking Sam Roush early in the third round recently.
“Yeah, I know,” Kmet said with a big laugh. “I keep getting calls from him like, ‘Hey, look, we’re drafting another tight end…’”
For someone who has lived through a constant stream of turnover, it isn’t even a surprise anymore. Kmet has spent seven seasons with the Bears, and the turmoil has been part of the background noise. He went into last season already knowing it could have been his last in Chicago. with Loveland’s arrival and the structure of his contract. Yet he’s still here—still prominent in the offense.
Since the Bears drafted him in the second round out of Notre Dame in 2020. Kmet has endured a change of general manager. two head-coaching hires. two quarterback reboots. and he is now working with his sixth offensive play-caller in Ben Johnson. Through every version of the franchise that came and went, Kmet kept finding a job.
His staying power was enough to earn him a $50 million contract extension from general manager Ryan Poles, even though Ryan Pace was the general manager who drafted him. Kmet has played whatever version of himself the offense needed under Matt Nagy, Luke Getsy, and whoever else ran the system.
Something about that adaptability seems to translate across coaches. “It’s actually really easy: You do what you’re told and do it at a high level. ” Kmet told the Sun-Times. “At times. you may not like what you’re being told to do. but if you do it right and do it consistently. it makes it really. really hard for them to get rid of you. It’s better just to go with it and buy in. and usually. it actually works out better for you in the long run.”.
Johnson, for his part, has maintained that Kmet, Loveland, and Roush are complementary pieces rather than competitors. Kmet’s production from last season suggests how the fits can still shift. After Loveland came aboard. Kmet’s receiving numbers dropped to 30 catches. 347 yards and two touchdowns — the lowest total for catches since his rookie season. when Nagy was slow to incorporate him into the offense. Those numbers were about half of what he posted in his biggest seasons, 2021 and ’23.
If Kmet had been testing the open market, the dip likely would have weighed on contract talks. But he doesn’t sound worried about what the Bears value. “Maybe my first few years I looked at how many catches I had or this or that. but now I look at the tape I put out last year. and I’ll stand by that tape over any year I’ve had. ” Kmet said. “Ben asked me to do a lot of things that I hadn’t done as much of in the past. but I really excelled at it.”.
He described answering the bell and making plays when needed. but he also insisted that his performance doesn’t start and end with the stat sheet. In his view. the coaching staff and the front office do not treat his value as simply a set of numbers. “I’ve answered the bell when I’ve needed to and made plays. but I view my performance differently than just off the stat sheet. This coaching staff and this front office don’t necessarily look at that as my first marker of did I play well or not.”.
Kmet says Poles and Johnson have been straightforward with him about where he stands—both the positives and the critiques. “They’ve been so honest with me about where I stand with them. Both good and bad things, they’ve told it to me. I really rely on what they say and take their word for it.”
He pointed to one vivid reminder that he can still be a game-changing threat: his epic touchdown catch from Caleb Williams in the playoff game against the Rams. That play—an desperate heave on fourth-and-four to tie the game in the final minute—sent Soldier Field into pandemonium. Kmet said he often feels compelled to remind people the Bears went on to lose the game.
Still, he sees that moment as a high point in his Bears run. For a player who grew up in Lake Barrington and played at St. Viator, it’s hard to beat a touchdown catch like that.
In another way, Kmet says his time in Chicago has started to feel like more than just surviving change. He described it like a second childhood with the Bears—an adjustment that comes with age. experience. and a sense that he’s finally settling into adulthood. He was 20 when the Bears saw him at the NFL scouting combine; now he’s “truly settling into adulthood” as one of the more experienced players on the roster. “It’s definitely crazy seeing these younger guys come in who were born in 2004. ” he said—and he also referenced being a year into marriage.
“I’ve started to grow into a man,” he said, laughing hard. “I don’t know if I always feel like that, necessarily, but I’ve done a lot of growing up here and matured a lot.”
Kmet doesn’t say he spends much time worrying about his NFL future, but the question still hovers. How much longer will this Bears story last?
This year. the team had a reasonably cheap out on his contract. but instead chose to restructure his deal and give him additional security. There is an affordable exit again after this season. Kmet is also approaching the point where a player at his position would typically look for another extension.
Predicting what’s next is hard—Kmet’s entire tenure has been built on the same lesson: he has kept working, kept adjusting, and somehow stayed relevant no matter who came in. For now, that hasn’t changed.
Cole Kmet Chicago Bears Ben Johnson Ryan Poles contract extension Colston Loveland Sam Roush NFL tight end Caleb Williams Halas Hall