How Chicago Bears signing Robert Tonyan impacts Cole Kmet
Anyone looking at the Chicago Bears roster could project them to sign a tight end this offseason. They were losing Trevon Wesco and Ryan Griffin and needed to find a way to improve the room. The team signed Robert Tonyan from the Green Bay Packers in free agency to replace Griffin, and now they may try to re-sign Wesco.
Chicago Bears sign Robert Tonyan
The original thought was that the team would sign a better blocker, and it may be unlocking Cole Kmet in the passing game. However, the opposite may be true. Tonyan is certainly more of a pass catching threat, than a blocking threat.
Still, both of them line up with their hand in the ground for the most part. Cole Kmet played in line 62.3% of the time, while Tonyan was in line 56% of the time. This does show that of the two. Kmet is more likely to be the blocker, though.
It obviously has to do with the offense that they ran, but Kmet blocked on 53% of his snaps, while Tonyan was a blocker on 34% of his snaps. The team may be looking for Tonyan to improve as a blocker, but when Luke Getsy was on the Green Bay Packers, he actually saw Tonyan at his best as a pass catcher.
Tonyan was rarely blocking, that was for Mercedes Lewis. But, Tonyan was making big catches, and he had 11 touchdowns. So, of the two, Tonyan has shown more highs as a pass catcher, and Kmet has been more trusted as a blocker.
It is fair to say that Tonyan with Justin Fields and Kmet with Aaron Rodgers may have yielded different results. More than that, Kmet is going to start and will get plenty of passing game work compared to Tonyan. However, when the two are on the field together you can expect Tonyan to be flexed out or running a route, while Kmet is chipping or staying in to block.
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When you add in that the Chicago Bears added D.J. Moore, and that will make Chase Claypool more of a depth wideout, or almost a pass-catching tight end as well, you could see Cole Kmet having a step back as a fantasy football player. He could give the Chicago Bears more value because his blocking could get wideouts open down the field. Still, the lack of blocking by Tonyan makes you think that Kmet will be doing more blocking than pass-catching next year.