Grading the Chicago Bears 2020 draft class after rookie season

With the Chicago Bears’ season over, now is a good time to look back on the 2020 NFL Draft class and truly see how good each player was in their rookie season. Even without a first-round pick in this class, the Bears still got a lot out of their rookies.

Although the Bears’ season finished 8-8 with them making the playoffs, they seem to be stuck in a stage of mediocrity and that may not change for years. The bright side is this class was excellent and they’ve had some solid classes for years now with rookies that contribute well.

A lot of fans questioned the draft class and thought the Bears wasted multiple picks. As everyone hates Ryan Pace, he proved a lot of people wrong with this solid draft class.

Chicago Bears Round 2, Pick No. 43 — Cole Kmet | TE| Notre Dame

Many fans hated this selection. Although the Bears got the best tight end in the class in the second round, fans still hated it. Cole Kmet was a stud blocking and receiving tight end for Notre Dame in the 2019 season, but fans only like the athletic-freak tight ends, and Kmet isn’t exactly that.

After signing Jimmy Graham to a nice contract, it was weird the Bears made their first pick a tight end. Eventually, though, Kmet started to take snaps from the multiple time Pro-Bowl tight end and started doing solid work with it. His outstanding blocking ability and his aggressiveness after the catch were highly impressive for a rookie. Learning behind Graham likely helped him greatly.

Kmet still has work to do as he only caught 28 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, but he looks to be a piece the Bears can keep around for years and be a great all-around tight end in the NFL. He makes Graham expendable as well with how well he has looked. He showed a lot of growth by the end of the season.

Grade: B+