The Chicago Bears have an excess of tight ends and a need for edge rusher help. It raises an interesting question over whether the team would trade one of their tight ends in an effort to add an edge rusher.
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report recently laid out a similar scenario. He projected a three-team trade. Essentially, the Bears would trade Cole Kmet and a fourth-round pick, and they would acquire Josh Sweat. While that might not be the exact trade, it does raise an interesting question of whether the Bears would trade Kmet for a rusher?
Should the Chicago Bears keep Cole Kmet on the trade market?
The initial answer is a clear yes. While Kmet has a role as the number two tight end, the team also has Sam Roush, who can slide into that spot. They are much thinner at edge rusher, and edge rusher is much harder to acquire. They do lose something on offense, but not as much as they gain.
However, the Bears view this in a different light. First, they clearly value Kmet and what multiple tight ends can do to their offense more than most. Kmet had a valuable role last year, and this year he will be able to free up Colston Loveland. This will allow Loveland to get more slot snaps. That can help them overcome the loss of D.J. Moore.
So, if you say Kmet is just a second tight end, it looks bad. However, if he is the key to replacing Moore in the offense, it is a bit more valuable. The Bears also plan to run three tight-end looks more often this season. So, while Roush could jump into the second tight end role, this would still leave a hole at the third tight end spot. This would limit what they want to do on offense.
More than that, the Bears would be taking on significant money with Josh Sweat. Kmet has a $7M cap hit, and they would only save over $1M by moving on from him. Meanwhile, Sweat is signed through 2028 and has cap hits of $23.6M in 2027 and 2028. So, the Bears would not be saving money by losing Kmet and they would be taking on a lot more money.
There is a reason the Bears have not pulled off a trade like this. It looks better in reality than in actuality.
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