Cole Kmet (born March 10, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

, and was selected by the Bears in the second round of the

2020 NFL draft The 2020 NFL draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The ...

Early life

Kmet attended St. Viator High School in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County Illinois, United States. A northwestern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. He played baseball and

in high school. As a senior in football, he had 48 receptions for 773 yards and four

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. Kmet played in the 2017

U.S. Army All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl (currently branded as the Navy All-American Bowl for sponsorship reasons) is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is p ...

. He committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

to play

College career

Football

As a true freshman at Notre Dame in 2017, Kmet played in all 13 games and had two receptions for 14 yards. As a sophomore in 2018, he played in 11 games and had 15 receptions for 162 yards. Kmet took over as the starting tight end his junior year in 2019. He missed the first three games of the season due to a broken collarbone. In November, he announced that he would return to Notre Dame for his senior season rather than enter the

. On January 2, 2020, Kmet announced he would forgo his senior season at Notre Dame and would enter the 2020 NFL Draft.

College football statistics

Baseball

Kmet also played baseball at Notre Dame. As a freshman in 2018, Kmet appeared in 26 games as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

and made one start. He finished the season 2–5 with a 5.05

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), 39

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

and a team-leading eight saves. As a sophomore in 2019, Kmet appeared in eight games with one start, before suffering an arm injury. He finished the season 0–2 with a 2.89 ERA and 27 strikeouts.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Considered a top tight end prospect for the 2020 NFL draft,

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

ranked him as the best tight end in the draft, while

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

ranked him as the second-best. He was projected as a second-round pick.

2020 season

The

selected him in the second round with the 43rd overall pick, which was previously acquired from the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

along with

Khalil Mack Khalil Delshon Mack (; born February 22, 1991) is an American professional football linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Buffalo Bulls and was selected by the Oakland ...

as part of the trade that sent two first-round picks (

Josh Jacobs Joshua Cordell Jacobs (born February 11, 1998) is an American professional football running back for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected by the Oak ...

and

Damon Arnette Damon Elroy Arnette Jr. (born September 2, 1996) is an American professional American football, football cornerback for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, ...

) to the Raiders. He signed a four-year rookie contract with the team on July 21. Kmet began his rookie season primarily as a blocker. In Week 2 against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, he recorded his first NFL

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...

with a 12-yard catch, followed by his first touchdown four games later against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

on a nine-yard score in the 23–16 victory.

2021 season

Kmet appeared in all 17 games for the Bears and caught 60 passes for 612 yards during the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

2022 season

Bears

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Luke Getsy Luke John Getsy (born February 16, 1984) is an American football coach who is a senior assistant for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears from 2022 t ...

was optimistic about Kmet, who did not catch a touchdown pass in 2021. He commented on Kmet's versatility stating, "You talk about a guy that we hope can do a lot of different things. We’ve lined him up wide. We've let him do some routes outside. We've brought him in tight. We've put him in line and made him block the big boys up front too and I think the cool part about him is that he can do all of that stuff really well." During the 2022 season, Kmet recorded 50 receptions for 544 yards and seven touchdowns. He led the Bears in receptions, receiving touchdowns, and receiving yards.

2023 season

On July 26, 2023, Kmet signed a four-year, $50 million contract extension with the Bears. He appeared in all 17 games for the Bears and finished the season with 73 receptions for 719 yards and six touchdowns.

2024 season

On October 13, 2024, against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

, Kmet had 5 receptions for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns. In the same game, Kmet also snapped six long snaps as the emergency

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

after starter Scott Daly suffered a knee injury, uniquely earning him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He finished the 2024 season with 47 receptions for 474 yards and four touchdowns.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

Personal life

Kmet's father Frank Kmet was selected in 1992 but never played in an NFL game. His uncle Jeff Zgonina played in the NFL. Kmet is of Polish descent through his mother.

References

External links

Chicago Bears bioNotre Dame Fighting Irish football bioNotre Dame Fighting Irish baseball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kmet, Cole 1999 births Living people American football tight ends Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Lake County, Illinois Chicago Bears players Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Players of American football from Lake County, Illinois