Cole Kmet confident Bears’ offense will get off to fast start in 2023

A lot is riding on the 2023 NFL season for Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet. And by a lot, I mean… a lot of money.

Kmet is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is considered the favorite among the three Bears with expiring deals (CB Jaylon Johnson and WR Darnell Mooney being the other two) to ink a new contract before the season. But if GM Ryan Poles plays his cards right, he’ll force Kmet to prove the arrow is still pointing up on his development.

Perhaps Kmet is the clubhouse favorite for a summer contract extension because he had the most impactful season of his career in 2022. He set a career-high with seven touchdown receptions and led the Bears in every major receiving category. Kmet’s Pro Football Focus grade (67.6) was the highest of his career, too.

Five of Kmet’s seven touchdowns came between Week 8-10 when the Chicago Bears’ passing game showed signs of life. It may have also been a preview of what’s to come in 2023.

“I think it was just more the offense was growing, and that kind of helps the situation statistically speaking,” Kmet said from the Bears’ final round of OTAs. “So yeah, we had a good little stretch there in the middle of the season. Maybe we didn’t really end the season how we wanted to. But we’re working hard to amend that so we can get a fast start going this year.”

Kmet echoed a consistent theme about the Bears’ offense all offseason: continuity. This season is the second in offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s system, which at times in 2022 looked capable of putting up 30 points per game.

With another offseason of work, Kmet and the rest of the Bears’ offense have a chance to make some noise in the up-for-grabs NFC North.

“You come in knowing what to do right away, and when Luke’s installing stuff, you already know the plays, all that stuff—a lot easier to process, a lot easier to get going on the details,” Kmet said. “So instead of seeing what route you’re running, you know what route and you know how to adjust off man vs. two, vs. four. You know, those type of things.”

The biggest beneficiary of the offense’s continuity will be Justin Fields. For the third-year quarterback to take that next superstar step, he has to produce more as a passer.

Kmet said it’ll be up to him and the rest of the pass-catchers to get Fields to that level.

“His leadership keeps growing,” Kmet said of Fields. ” I think he just gets more confidence in himself every day and how he comes in the locker room every day, so that’s been cool to see. But we’ll see where it goes and we’re excited about it.

‘But we’re going to be great around him. That’s our goal this year. We’re going to help him a lot so he doesn’t have to do all of the running he had to do last year. So it should work out for both sides.”