5 reasons Chicago Bears extending Cole Kmet was an easy decision
Cole Kmet's production compared to his peers checks out
Cole Kmet is pretty productive for his age, but overall, he can hang with some of the players in his salary range. Yes, he is not in the Travis Kelce or George Kittle discussion, but the money is not there yet, either.
The names that he checks in close to are Dawson Knox, Hunter Henry, Evan Engram, David Njoku, and Zach Ertz. With Ertz at $10.55M per year and Engram at $13.75M, the rest lie in between when it comes to salary, including Kmet.
Now, here is what it looks like when you compare their statistics. These stats are just since 2020 when Kmet entered the NFL.
Name | Catches | Yards | Y/C | TD | AV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dawson Knox | 121 | 1392 | 11.5 | 18 | 14 |
Hunter Henry | 151 | 1725 | 11.4 | 15 | 15 |
Evan Engram | 182 | 1828 | 10 | 8 | 15 |
Cole Kmet | 138 | 1399 | 10.1 | 9 | 14 |
David Njoku | 113 | 1316 | 11/6 | 10 | 12 |
Zach Ertz | 157 | 1504 | 9.6 | 10 | 14 |
He is fourth in catches, fourth in yards, fifth in Y/C, fifth in TDs, and tied for second in AV. He also is fifth in salary of this group. So, he is in the right range for the right group. As always, we have to mention the age.
Engram will be 29, Njoku will be 27, Knox will be 27, Henry will be 29, and Ertz will be 33. When you factor in that Kmet will just be 24, it is pretty easy to understand where the Chicago Bears paying them comes from.