With their first pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Bears selected Cole Kmet with the 43rd overall selection on Friday night.
A coveted four-star recruit who chose Notre Dame over offers from Michigan and Ohio State, Cole Kmet was a late bloomer for the Irish, seeing scarce usage his first two seasons before breaking out for a stellar 43-515-6 receiving line as a junior in 2019. Kmet would have done even more damage if not for a broken collarbone that shelved him for three games. A prodigious athlete (he starred as a pitcher on the Notre Dame baseball team before focusing solely on football) with strong bloodlines (his father and uncle both played in the NFL), Kmet earned high marks at the Combine, testing in the 77th percentile of SPARQ athletes. A toolsy prospect with Gronk-ian measurements and vacuum hands, Kmet has the raw skill set to be a useful NFL contributor, even if his game lacks polish in certain areas.
Measurables: 6'6"/262
School: Notre Dame
Accolades: U.S. Army All-American Bowl participant (high school), former four-star recruit, also played baseball at Notre Dame
Strengths: Kmet boasts soft hands (he dropped just two balls over his final two seasons in South Bend), respectable 4.7 speed and a massive catch radius, the latter a product of his daunting 6'6" frame. He flashed red-zone chops by supplying a six-pack of touchdowns last season and has the hops (37-inch vertical) to make contested catches.
Weaknesses: Kmet was an anemic blocker in college and, without significant improvement, will be a liability on that front. The 21-year-old Illinois native rarely broke loose for big gains at Notre Dame, only logging four catches on balls traveling 20 yards or more last season. A middling separator with limited downfield bandwidth, the psych major's college route tree was largely confined to check-downs and underneath throws. His tackle-shedding is also a work in progress.
Player Comparison: Vance McDonald
While neither are known for their blocking expertise, McDonald has used his size and receiving prowess to become an NFL fixture and Kmet embodies many of the same traits.
What Experts Are Saying
"Kmet has good hands and presents a big target for his quarterback while providing a size mismatch against safeties in man coverage." –Charlie Campbell, Walter Football
"There's reason to be excited about the toolbox. But right now, tangibly, Kmet doesn't offer much as a blocker and is more limited as a receiver than his billing would have you believe." – Thor Nystrom, Rotoworld
