Cole Kmet is entering his sixth season with the Chicago Bears.
The veteran tight end has had his fair share of quarterbacks since he entered the league in 2020 as a second-round draft pick out of Notre Dame. Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles, Justin Fields, Andy Dalton, Trevor Siemian, Nathan Peterman, Tyson Bagent, and Caleb Williams.
Kmet’s current quarterback has the potential to end the ongoing cycle of quarterbacks that have come in and out of Halas Hall over the years, but that will only happen if he can continue to show growth.
What has Kmet seen out of his quarterback from Year 1 to Year 2?
His rookie season was filled with ups and downs that led Williams to throw for 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was also sacked a league-high 68 times.
What will help limit those sacks is simply understanding head coach Ben Johnson’s offense, which Kmet has seen tangible evidence of in the second-year quarterback.
"I think his whole pre-snap process,” Kmet said. “That's continued to grow from April up until now. I know he's taken a lot of pride in dialing that in and getting it right. A lot of coaches will tell you that a lot of snaps are won before that is even snapped. So the presnap process is huge for all of us, but obviously especially the quarterback position, and I think Caleb has taken a lot of great steps there."
The faster Williams can play and do so on time in Johnson’s offense, the more success he and the entire unit will have this season. It took time to make progress, though, as the first-team offense experienced plenty of presnap penalties and had issues lining up when first learning Johnson’s scheme.
Another area that Kmet has seen improvement in from his quarterback is with cadence, which has benefits for everyone on offense.
“I think that's something that the coaches have harped on him with and he's had no choice but to get better, and that's been evident,” Kmet said. “I felt like my last game up in Kansas City was one of my better games getting off the football, and a lot of that is because of Caleb's cadence, his rhythm. So he's really developed in that regard, and that's a huge advantage for us up front getting off the football and getting on our blocks when the quarterback is dialed in."
The offense should always look to play aggressively and not reactionary. Williams’ cadence is helping his teammates to play that brand of football that Johnson covets.
But the progress doesn’t stop there. Kmet also noted one other key improvement he has seen from Williams.
Read more: Braxton Jones shares how he feels prior to pivotal Week 1 Bears-Vikings matchup
“Yeah, well, I think identification of defenses, and obviously knowing certain areas were to kill zero looks, those type of deals,” Kmet said. “I’m sure there’s some growth things to that in terms of how maybe Ben wants that and how he sees it and seeing it through Ben’s eyes. But I think I’ve seen him really take hold of that starting in spring up until now.”