Chicago Bears: Predicting the offensive depth chart for Week 1
Chicago Bears Depth Chart: Tight Ends
There is a new name on my final depth chart for the tight end position and the Chicago Bears must make this decision or lose him.
TE1: Cole Kmet
We are all hoping to see Cole Kmet take a leap this season. Remember that time on social media when some Chicago Bears fans tried to make it seem like Kmet had a bad rookie year? Yeah, that was fun. Kmet’s rookie season is exactly what you want to see from your second-round pick. The tight end position takes a couple of years to grasp for most tight ends, but Kmet flashed enough for us to be very excited about his future.
TE2: Jimmy Graham
The man who helped teach Kmet is future Hall of Fame tight end, Jimmy Graham. Yes, Jimmy Graham is a future Hall of Famer, and if you don’t believe that you haven’t been watching football long enough. Graham is seventh in career-receiving yards among tight ends. He is fourth in career touchdowns. Graham is sixth-overall in receptions too. Not to mention he’s played fewer games than many ahead of him on the all-time list. He is a lock for the Hall of Fame.
When it comes to the Chicago Bears, the hope here is that he will continue to be a red zone threat for this team. Graham came away with eight touchdowns last season for this team and I’d love to see a similar amount in 2021.
TE3: Jesse James
Jesse James has looked fantastic this offseason and could be an offseason steal for Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. He has excelled in the passing game and is a very solid blocking tight end too. James has developed a great rapport with Justin Fields, but has even looked decent with Andy Dalton. We should expect to see more of Jesse James on the field than we saw from Demetrius Harris last year. He could also take over the TE2 spot in 2022 when Jimmy Graham moves on.
TE4: Jesper Horsted
Originally I had J.P. Holtz in this spot, but Jesper Horsted showed enough versus the Titans to make me change my mind. We should not allow one preseason game to change our minds, but that’s exactly what happened here. Horsted proved he has more upside as a receiving tight end than Holtz. With James as a blocking tight end and Cole Kmet improving at blocking too, the Chicago Bears should be able to take a bit of a risk and keep Horsted on the roster.