Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet was one of the members of the team who found it “really upsetting” that the club traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers before Chicago ultimately made USC Trojans signal-caller Caleb Williams the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Kmet offered that comment long before he saw Williams make his preseason debut in this past Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
“His demeanor on the sideline, his demeanor in the huddle was a little different,” Kmet said on Thursday regarding what he noticed about Williams at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium, per Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated. “Gameday juices. You could feel his confidence in the huddle in terms of saying the play call and at the line of scrimmage. His cadence was great on gameday. All those things seemed to click. You could see him figuring out things from play to play. … His confidence is unwavering, and that’s really cool to see with a couple of drives.”
In total, Williams only completed 4-of-7 passes for 95 yards to go along with the 13 yards he picked up with his legs against the Bills. Nevertheless, one can’t help but assume Kmet realizes those running the Bears probably made the right decision this offseason.
Fields went 10-28 as a starter during his Chicago tenure and was — statistically speaking — one of the NFL’s worst fourth-quarter quarterbacks over the past two seasons. More recently, he showed that he hasn’t fully eliminated the type of flaws from his game that prevented the Bears from committing to him as their long-term starter.
Kmet reiterated on Thursday that Williams is simply “different” than anything the 25-year-old has witnessed from a QB1 at the highest level.
“We have a couple weeks until game one,” Kmet added. “I think we’re in a good spot right now but we have a chance to really take this thing to the next level in the next few weeks and be where we really want to be come Week 1.”
As of late Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Williams as the betting favorite at +135 odds to claim the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award for the upcoming season. That same outlet had the Bears at -110 betting odds to make the playoffs.
The days of Kmet and others within the Chicago locker room being upset about the Fields trade are likely already in the past.
