The Caleb Williams era has not been off to the smoothest start for the Chicago Bears.
While the 1-1 record and loss to the Texans is nothing to be too concerned about, Williams has thrown for just 267 yards and two interceptions while failing to throw a touchdown two weeks into his NFL career. To take it a step further, the 353 yards of total offense tallied through the first two weeks is the fourth fewest of any team during the Super Bowl era.
This has impacted everyone on the Bears, who are a roster expected to be filled with impactful fantasy football players. However, as they continue to attempt to right the ship and reach their peak as a team, one surprising Bears player should be looked at to step up in a major way — Cole Kmet.
Cole Kmet Fantasy Football Outlook
Through the opening two weeks of the season, Cole Kmet has tallied five receptions on six targets for just 31 total yards.
Coming off a season in which he tallied 719 receiving yards and six touchdowns, this was not the start Kmet was seeking. However, as Williams finds his legs and the Bears figure things out as a team, Kmet is necessary for the fix to occur.
The biggest problem Williams and the Bears are currently facing is the amount of pressure on the young quarterback. In the most recent loss to the Texans, Williams dropped back to pass 48 times. Houston generated 23 pressures as a team with 36 total players creating pressure, roughly half the time. On top of this, Williams is 0-11 on passes at least 15 yards down the field through the first two games.
For the Bears to combat the pressure and begin to generate some offense, it is going to require getting Kmet involved.
Tight ends can often serve as a security blanket for young quarterbacks. Kmet is a more than capable pass catcher who the Bears should look to unlock in the offense. Looking back at last season’s stats, Kmet was only held without a catch on one occasion and tallied five or more receptions in nine of the 16 games he played in.
Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze have also each battled injuries to start the season, which has limited their availability. As Chicago continues its effort to speed up Williams’ processing time to ensure he gets the ball out quickly, using Kmet as a safety valve will be critical for the Bears.
While making adjustments has not looked like an early strength of this Bears coaching staff, getting Kmet more involved in the passing game needs to be the next step for this Chicago team.
If these steps are to occur, Kmet has a chance to carve out a role for himself as one of the top fantasy tight ends. This positional group has not performed well to start the season, with only six tight ends averaging more than 10 fantasy points per game. Even with the struggles in which he has started the season, Kmet still ranks 29th in tight end production.
This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but if you can hit on the tight end position, it gives you a major advantage on the fantasy football slate. Expect Kmet to begin to carve out more of a role in the Bears offense and for this to be a necessary solution to the pressure the team is currently facing.
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