The Chicago Bears seemed to cast doubt on veteran tight end Cole Kmet’s future over the weekend when they selected Stanford’s Sam Roush in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft, but Kmet isn’t likely to go anywhere — at least not yet.
One of the biggest surprises of the Bears’ draft — apart from not drafting an edge rusher — came in the third round, when they took Roush with the No. 69 overall pick despite having Kmet and Colston Loveland, 2025’s No. 10 pick, already atop their depth chart.
Following Roush’s selection, though, Bears general manager Ryan Poles made it clear that the team has no plans to move on from Kmet just because they have a new talent.
“Nothing changes for Cole,” Poles said April 24. “Our feelings for Cole don’t change. Again, we’re top 5 in 12 and 13 personnel. If something were to happen, injury-wise, to Cole or Colston, all of a sudden, you’re changing a lot of game-plan stuff that is kind of your bread and butter, so we feel good about that room and the guys that are in there.”
Poles also added: “Cole’s locked in. Even contract-wise, he’s locked in. We’re always going to compete. It’s not like you just show up and your spot is your spot, but we feel really good about Cole’s position on this team — his role, his leadership. It’s not just whatever spot he is on the tight end depth chart, but his leadership and what he means to this team. We view him highly, so that doesn’t change much at all [with Roush].”
Cole Kmet Trade Makes Little Sense After Restructure
Even before Roush’s selection, NFL analysts were making the case for the Bears to put Kmet on the trade block and shop him around for draft capital and modest cap savings.
Some of them felt that Kmet’s $11.6 million cap hit was too large to justify his spot on the roster after Loveland took over as the No. 1 operator at the position to end 2025. They shared those thoughts even louder after the team took Roush in Round 3, too, ignoring how frequently Johnson deploys two or three tight ends for his run game.
What most of the people calling for a Kmet trade fail to realize, though, is that the Bears essentially guaranteed his 2026 roster spot with a contract restructure before the draft.
According to Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald, the Bears converted a portion of Kmet’s salary ($7.65 million) into a bonus and reduced his $11.6 million cap hit to about $7.77 million for the 2026 move. The restructure effectively lowered the cost of rostering him in 2026 at the cost of inflating his 2027 cap hit, which is now set for about $15.4 milion
The Bears could still squeeze their way out of Kmet’s contract if they cut or traded him, but it would only yield them $2.35 million in cap savings and leave them with dead-cap chargers of about $5.42 million in each of the next two seasons. Hardly worth the cost.
Sam Roush Can Find Role Without Cole Kmet’s Exit
Roush is a former Rugby player who has the skill set of a traditional Y tight end and a tough, physical demeanor that should enable him to excel as a blocker in head coach Ben Johnson’s offensive scheme. He will likely function as their No. 3 tight end option in 2026, but his top-70 selection creates expectations of a bigger role in the future.
The question is, will he develop at a pace that fits the Bears’ long-term plans?
Blocking will serve as square one for Roush in Chicago. The Bears tried to fill out their No. 3 role with veteran Durham Smythe during Johnson’s first season in 2025 and gave him nearly 300 offensive snaps throughout the regular season, but his blocking ability was suspect. Pro Football Focus gave him a lowly 53.2 run-blocking grade on the year.
The Bears could have tried to upgrade in free agency this spring, but the Los Angeles Chargers upped the going price for top NFL blocking tight ends when they extended Charlie Kolar on a three-year deal worth more than $8 million per season. Instead, they made a more cost-efficient move and drafted Roush, who is a block-first type of talent.
Growing beyond his No. 3 role will require Roush to improve his pass-catching, though. He has good size (6-foot-6, 267 pounds) to work as a target underneath and caught at least 40 passes in each of his final two seasons at Stanford, but he must improve his catch concentration with the Bears after dropping a career-high seven passes in 2025.
If Roush manages to do that, perhaps he can eventually push for the No. 2 job.
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