Colston Loveland felt for Cole Kmet, his fellow Chicago Bears tight end, when Kmet was carted off the field Thursday with what turned out to be a season-ending right knee injury .
"Praying for him, and I know he's strong," Loveland said after the Bears' 30-24 win over the New England Patriots , before the full extent of Kmet's injury was known. "He's going to do whatever he's got to do to get back right. But I love that guy and going to miss him for sure for however long he's out."
Perhaps it's fitting that the NFL celebrated National Tight Ends Day on Sunday, three days after Kmet's injury. Between receiving (10 catches for 87 yards) and run blocking, few Bears position players are as integrated into the offense as Kmet has been.
He and Loveland have been deployed together in the Bears' third-most-used personnel grouping (18 plays), according to the NFL's Game Statistics and Information System. Kmet played 62% of the offensive snaps in the first seven games.
So what do the Bears do without him?
When asked about the impact of Kmet's absence on his playbook, coach Ben Johnson said, "None."
"We trained all our tight ends to be able to do all the jobs," he said. "I don't see us really changing who we are or what we do as a result of that.
"One solution could be if (offensive tackle) Ozzy (Trapilo) continues to trend up, then maybe we can do a little more jumbo too (lining up with an sixth lineman on the field). It's not something we've really had to lean into. There's a lot of solutions out there to make sure that we can still run the ball, pass protect and (maintain) our route-running. I think we're going to be OK."
Still, the Bears are replacing a seventh-year veteran and locker-room mentor. And Johnson, a former tight ends coach, loves to send tight ends in motion and deploy them in various alignments.
"I'm not discounting the impact that a guy like Cole has," Johnson continued. "He's one of the glue guys. A huge amount of dependability, from the coaching staff to his teammates. We knew what we were going to get from that player every time he took the field. He was consistently one of the highest-graded players on our offense week in and week out.
"He will be missed, there's no question about it. But in terms of what we do, it's not going to change a whole lot."
It's true that Johnson can use more multiple-wide-receiver sets and jumbo run packages, but the tight end position is core to his offensive identity.
So at least some of Kmet's duties will fall to the rest of the tight end room. Here's a closer look at those players.
He's already playing 86% of the offensive snaps, a significant jump from 65% in his rookie season. Loveland is second on the team with 42 targets through seven games and has 26 receptions for 244 yards and two touchdowns (tied with Luther Burden III for the team lead).
Loveland saw just nine targets total over the first three weeks but got seven and 12 in Weeks 6 and 7, respectively.
Since Caleb WIlliams returned from a hamstring injury in Week 6, Loveland has seen a 30.2% overall target share and a 50% red-zone share — both team highs in that span, according to Next Gen Stats.
"He's come on," Johnson said. "The target share has gone up a little bit and he's done a really nice job. He's getting open. Uncharacteristic with a couple drops (Thursday) night, but that's really out of character for him.
"We know what we're getting there. We've just got to continue to find opportunities for him. We're hitting our stride now in terms of how we can game-plan this thing to where every guy is getting their fair share of touches."
Loveland not only is a high-usage pass catcher, but also has been rounding into a good blocker. He and right tackle Darnell Wright screened off several Patriots defenders on Burden's 24-yard touchdown reception .
"We had a whole convoy," Loveland said.
Johnson's plan to use a lot of 12 and 13 personnel (two and three tight ends) gave general manager Ryan Poles "clarity" when deciding to spend a third-round pick (No. 69) on Stanford's Roush.
The 6-foot-5, 267-pound rookie has participated in 22% of the offensive snaps and 41% on special teams. He has just three catches (in five targets) for 33 yards, but the Bears were mainly attracted to his blocking.
Playing in 13 personnel, Roush sealed the left edge on both D'Andre Swift's 4-yard touchdown run and Loveland's 12-yard touchdown catch against the Patriots.
"We've been very pleased with the improvement that he's made over these first seven weeks," Johnson said. "There's a high likelihood that his rep count is going to go up as a result of what's going on here (with Kmet). We'll be able to see the player that we drafted and had high hopes when we took him. Very smart player."
Despite his relatively low participation, Roush has committed three penalties, including two presnap infractions.
"He had some rookie hiccups early in the season, like everybody does, and yet he learns," Johnson said. "He doesn't make the same mistake twice. I'm confident in what he's going to be able to do for us here in the back half of the season."
Carlson, in his eighth NFL season and fourth with the Bears, and third-year pro Ismail are on the practice squad. Large, a 6-4, 255-pound undrafted rookie out of Iowa, has been on injured reserve since Sept. 1.
Johnson said Large "would certainly be an option."
"He's still on IR for us, so we'll see where he's at healthwise," Johnson said, "but I feel strongly in Steve Carlson and 'Q' on the practice squad as well."
Rookie center Logan Jones, Large's former Hawkeyes teammate, said in May: "My favorite thing about him is the way he likes to block, get his nose in there, get dirty. And we like to run the ball here, too, so it kind of fits."
The coaches will begin sorting out who's available and who's ready for an expanded role when they start game-planning for Monday night's game in Seattle against the defending champion Seahawks.
"We all understand we're going to have roles," Loveland said. "Some roles may seem bigger than others or different than others, but as long as we play the heck out of that role, everyone understands the team win is the biggest thing. Team success — we're all chasing one goal."
