Chicago Bears: 5 Biggest position battles at 2020 training camp

3. Backup tight end

Much has been said about the Chicago Bears having a small village of tight ends on the roster. To be fair, most of them will end up being just camp bodies and others will end up being special teams contributors and won’t play any tight end unless there is an injury.

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The Bears brought in Jimmy Graham to be the starter. No matter what you think of the signing, he’s the main guy. The question is who backs him up?

The Bears also brought in Demetrius Harris, who was a backup for the Cleveland Browns. He also played in Kansas City, where head coach Matt Nagy coached, so he has a good understanding of the Bears’ offensive system.

One thing to note here is that none of the tight ends on the roster last season is considered to contribute much in 2020. None of them reached 100 receiving yards and they combined for just two touchdown catches. The Bears needed to make a change and they did.

The Bears made tight end Cole Kmet their top draft choice. He was their second-round (43rd overall) pick in this year’s draft. Kmet has a lot of tools. He has soft hands and does a good job of making contested catches and he also has the ability to get open.

A lot is already expected out of Kmet. He is a local kid and that puts even more pressure on the kid. Some expect him to compete for the starting job. It’s important to note, however, that rookie tight ends don’t have a history of coming out great right out of the gate.

Here are the rookie statistics for some of the top tight ends in the league today.

• Travis Kelce:   1 game, 0 starts, 0 yards, 0 touchdowns
• George Kittle: 15 games, 7 starts, 515 yards, 2 touchdowns
• Zach Ertz: 16 games, 3 starts, 469 yards, 4 touchdowns
• Austin Hooper:  14 games, 3 starts, 271 yards, 3 touchdowns

Three of the four players above went on to gain over 1,000 yards in a season.

We should hold off on the great expectations for Kmet. He is still a little raw since he spent some of his time in Notre Dame as a baseball player. This is the reason Graham is there. He is the consummate professional and had his own success. He’ll mentor Kmet so he’ll be ready to step in as the starter down the road.

We need to see how Kmet handles the battle against Harris. If he can’t keep up with Harris, then the Bears need to bring him in slowly. Let him play some snaps but have him mostly watch and learn. If, on the other hand, Kmet does handle the battle well, and he shows what he could do, he could contribute more on the field. He’ll get some red zone opportunities as well.

Whatever the case, this will be an improved tight ends unit with Harris and Kmet playing backups.