Cole

Kmet

Kmet was the recipient of Caleb Williams’ best ball of the day, catching a 25-yard hole shot in zone on the sideline. Kmet has eight targets for 69 yards since Week 6’s two-touchdown scorcher against the Jaguars. This at least is a more reasonable line for someone ostensibly on the TE1 fringe.

Kmet has been an afterthought in a struggling Bears offense in recent weeks, and Week 10 saw him get four targets. He caught two of them in the short-yardage area, totaling 13 yards. Kmet is still the prevailing Bears tight end, but is the No. 4 pass-catching option in an offense that cannot find the endzone. Kmet is best left on fantasy benches for Week 11.

Kmet’s 45 receiving snaps led all other Bears tight ends by 35, and ranked fourth on the team overall. He somehow finished as the only Bears “pass catcher” who failed to earn a single target. Kmet can be dropped in re-draft leagues.

Caleb Williams targeted his tight ends just three times all afternoon, with Gerald Everett seeing two of those targets. Kmet, who was coming off a 5-70-2 performance against the Jaguars in Week 6, entered the day averaging 4.8 targets per game. That said, he was a forgotten man against the Commanders and will hope to bounce back in Week 9 against the Cardinals, where he’ll be a fringe TE1/TE2.

Kmet was left wide open in the middle of the field on a double play-fake early in the game. He reeled in a dart from Caleb Williams and rolled through a Jaguars defender en route to the first of his two touchdowns on the day. He was lost in the shuffle and caught a short red zone toss later in the game. Kmet even took over long snapping duties after Scott Daly got hurt early in the game and performed admirably as the emergency option. He began the year bogged down in a tight-end-by committee with Gerald Everett. That only lasted a few weeks and he is now the starting tight end for an ascending rookie quarterback. Kmet will push for a TE1 ranking when he faces the Commanders after Chicago’s Week 7 bye.

Kmet got behind the Panthers’ defense for a 25-yard gain in the first half. He could have picked up even more yards on the play if Caleb Williams had led him instead of underthrowing the pass. Kmet came back with a 26-yard gain later in the game as well. Despite the chunk plays, Kmet’s fantasy outlook coming off this game isn’t ideal. He was fourth on the team in targets and logged a measly 14 percent target share. It was his second week in a row with exactly four targets. With Keenan Allen back in the fold, Kmet is low in the pecking order for targets in Chicago. He sits in the TE2 ranks for his Week 6 game versus the Jaguars.

Kmet was added to the injury report as a limited participant on Wednesday but got in two full practices before being removed from the report. Kmet spiked for 10 receptions and 97 yards but came back to Earth last week with three grabs for 34 yards. With the Bears’ offense struggling and Keenan Allen back in the fold, Kmet is stuck in TE2 purgatory for the foreseeable future. Offensive lineman Teven Jenkins (ribs) is questionable.

This is a new injury for Kmet and it is unclear as to whether he suffered it before or during Wednesday’s practice. Kmet has finished as a PPR TE1 just once this season, splitting time with Gerald Everett and Mercedes Lewis. This is an unideal development for the struggling player.

Coming off a 10-catch game, Kmet caught just three passes in a quiet showing. The Bears offense overall had lower passing volume and Kmet was still the teams’ second-leading receiver behind D’Andre Swift. Gerald Everett is an afterthought now, with Kmet now the definitive No. 1 TE for Chicago. He is in the high-end TE2 mix for Week 5 against the bottom-dwelling Panthers.

Tied with Rome Odunze for the team lead in targets, Kmet doubled his season catch total and tripled his yardage. It was thanks to an unsustainable pass-heavy game plan with struggling rookie QB Caleb Williams behind an awful offensive line, but Williams at least finally found some rhythm this afternoon. It never made sense that Kmet was so lightly used in Weeks 1-2, losing snaps to incompetent backup Gerald Everett. He might force his way into the top 13-14 mix for Week 4 against the collapsed Rams.