Cole Kmet Cashes In On Tight End Boon, Gets $50 Million Extension From Chicago Bears

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The Jacksonville Jaguars signed tight end Evan Engram to a three-year, $41.25 million deal earlier this month. Many around the NFL wondered what that meant for Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet.

That answer came on Wednesday. The Bears signed Kmet to a four-year contract extension worth $50 million with nearly $33 million in guaranteed cash.

Kmet's guaranteed money is fifth-most in the NFL among tight ends. Only San Francisco's George Kittle ($40 million), Baltimore's Mark Andrews ($37.6 million), Philadelphia's Dallas Goedert ($34.8 million) and Atlanta's Kyle Pitts ($32.9 million) received more.

Cole Kmet is a nice player, but receiving a top-five guaranteed contract at the position doesn't line up with his career numbers. Kmet's career-high in receiving yards in a season is 612. He did have seven touchdown catches last year, but has only nine in his three-year NFL career.

The Chicago Bears signed tight end Cole Kmet to a four-year contract extension worth $50 million with nearly $33 million in guaranteed cash.

The Chicago Bears signed tight end Cole Kmet to a four-year contract extension worth $50 million with nearly $33 million in guaranteed cash. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Perhaps the contract signals a larger trend towards paying tight ends more money.

During an episode of his "New Heights" podcast last month, Chiefs star TE Travis Kelce remarked that tight ends are woefully underpaid in the NFL.

“We started doing because, you know, we saw the guys doing it across the league, and I think it's huge for everybody to kind of bounce ideas off of each other. Especially when we all kind of feel like we're the most underpaid position in the league," Kelce said.

Maybe Kelce's words spread to NFL general managers. Engram and Kmet -- both solid but unspectacular players -- got large raises this offseason.

Do these contracts signal a new trend coming for the position?

That's unclear as of now, but clearly Chicago thinks it needed to lock down their guy.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.