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4 hours ago
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The Chicago Bears surprised some with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
With that choice, they took Michigan tight end Colston Loveland. He joins a tight end depth chart that already included the established Cole Kmet.
Pro Football Network's Sterling Xie thinks that means a trade might be coming for Kmet.
Here's how Xie explains things:
After an offense-heavy free agency and trade period, the Chicago Bears continued to lean into stacking the offense in Ben Johnson’s first draft. The Bears made Colston Loveland the first tight end off the board with the 10th overall pick, giving Chicago the TE prospect with the highest receiving upside and extensive experience in Michigan’s pro-style system.
All that raises questions about Cole Kmet’s future. On one hand, the Lions used multi-tight end sets at the seventh-highest rate last season (42.5%). It’s entirely possible Johnson intends to pair Loveland and Kmet together and play both significant snaps. However, the Bears also drafted receiver Luther Burden III in the second round and have a host of other veteran receivers that could allow Chicago to lean into 11 personnel more successfully than last year.
Kmet is likely no higher than fourth in the receiving pecking order, and potentially fifth depending on Burden’s development. A post-June 1 trade would save the Bears $10 million in cap space, and the dead money would be a minuscule $1.6 million each of the next three years. With three years left of team control, the 26-year-old Kmet could likely fetch a solid return if the Bears pull the plug.
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Loveland and Kmet aren't necessarily the same kind of tight end, which would make the case for keeping them both around.
But there's also the matter of trying to maximize an entire roster, and having two high-quality tight ends might be an unnecessary luxury.
The Bears have second-year QB Caleb Williams and first-year head coach Ben Johnson.
They should be trying to maximize those timelines. If they feel Kmet belongs, they should keep him. But if they feel there's a brighter future in a different direction, it could be time to trade Kmet and commit fully to Loveland.
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