There’s always an acclimation period for rookies as they adjust from the college game to the NFL. And that certainly hasn’t been made any easier with the limitations with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has prevented rookies from seeing the practice field with teammates until training camp.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case for Bears rookie tight end Cole Kmet, who has been impressing early on in training camp. Which is certainly encouraging given Chicago lacked solid tight end production from a season ago.
Bears tight ends coach Clancy Barone believes that Kmet is already playing at an NFL level, which is on par with what’s been said of Kmet during a virtual offseason.
“I would say Cole is on schedule — if not maybe a tick ahead of schedule,” Barone said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “Not to make it sound too grand, but I have zero concerns about Cole Kmet. I really do.”
Kmet was the Bears’ top draft choice in the NFL Draft at pick No. 43, and there’s a belief that he can develop into the kind of tight end that Matt Nagy’s offense needs to thrive.
Luckily, he’s learning from one of the best in veteran Jimmy Graham, who has also been impressive in the first two padded practices of training camp.
