Ten, More or Less

By drafting Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet on Friday, the Bears now have ten players on the roster at that position.  The more the merrier, I guess, or, if you’ve got ten, you’re admitting you got none.

 

Don’t get me wrong.  I want Kmet to succeed.  He’s a local kid who went to high school across the street from my brother-in-law’s house in the northwest suburbs.  I won’t hold that against Kmet any more than I do his attending Notre Dame.  Stuff happens.

 

Kmet, an admitted Bears’ fan, told reporters that his Bears’ favorite player growing up, at least until they traded him, was another tight end, Greg Olsen.  Talk about weird karma.  One of the reasons the Munsters have ten tight ends right now is because they let Olsen get away.  How Bears.

 

The GM twice removed drafted Olsen in 2007.  Olsen was a solid B in his four years here.  If his stats weren’t overwhelming (20 TDs total), keep in mind he was playing for Lovie Smith, who hated the passing game the way the devil does holy water.  Then, the twice-removed GM sent Olsen to Carolina for a third-round draft choice which he packaged into a deal with the Dolphins for wide receiver Brandon Marshall.  OMG.

 

In other words, a team that has hated passing since the beginning of time trades away a solid player—Olsen went on to catch 39 TDs during his nine seasons with the Panthers—for an emotionally fragile player who functioned best when the offense focused on him.  How Bears.

 

One of the ten tight ends, recently signed veteran Jimmy Graham, could, with luck, serve as a mentor to Kmet.  Fingers crossed.  Otherwise, the current GM will have made yet another bonehead move for a franchise with a storied history of them.