{"id":865260,"date":"2026-04-13T04:21:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865260\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:21:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:21:34","slug":"former-bears-cut-candidate-trade-pitch-lands-him-in-baltimore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865260\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bears Cut-Candidate Trade Pitch Lands Him in Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263333427-e1776021996222.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ben Johnson head coach Chicago Bears\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA &#8211; FEBRUARY 24: Head coach Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears speaks to the media during the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 24, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Ever since the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/chicago-bears\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Bears<\/a> selected All-American tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/colston-loveland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colston Loveland<\/a> with the 10th overall pick of the 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> Draft, the future of <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/cole-kmet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cole Kmet<\/a> has been put into doubt.<\/p>\n<p>Loveland was the Bears\u2019 top pass catcher by total receiving yards last year with 712, whilst Kmet was reduced to just 347 \u2013 the lowest of his career since his inaugural season back in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Kmet was been labelled as both a trade and cut candidate by numerous media outlets over the past few months, yet it the new league year came and went the former second round pick remained on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Bears Could Look to Move off Ex-Second Round Pick<\/p>\n<p>However, according to Bleacher Report\u2019s Kristopher Knox the possibility of the Notre Dame alum being traded over the next few months prior to the start of next season is far from over, and in his latest piece lists a Kmet trade to the<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/baltimore-ravens\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, in exchange for a conditional 2027 4th round pick, as one of the \u201cbiggest potential trades that could still happen in 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKmet has been productive throughout his Bears tenure, but he may not be viewed as expendable due to the emergence of rookie Colston Loveland in 2025. Trading Kmet would save Chicago <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/47638\/cole-kmet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer external nofollow\">$7.4 million<\/a> in cap space of $9 million if traded after June 1.\u201d Knox <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25416796-biggest-potential-nfl-trades-could-still-happen-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">argues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In this potentially win-win move the Bears save cap space whilst the Ravens acquire another receiving tight end option alongside All-Pro <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/mark-andrews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Andrews<\/a> who has ties to an existing key member of Baltimore\u2019s coaching staff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor Baltimore, adding Kmet would make a ton of sense. The Ravens lost tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar in free agency. Kmet is a solid pass-catcher who has tallied 2,939 receiving yards in six seasons and who just turned 27 years old in March.\u201d Knox wrote. \u201cKmet also has experience under new Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, who held the same position last season in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Should the Bears Trade Cole Kmet This Offseason?<\/p>\n<p>It is quite likely that Kmet\u2019s fate will rest of what happens in the ensuing NFL draft in just over 10 days time.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year old is a boon in the receiving game, and after losing wideout <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/d-j-moore\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">D.J. Moore<\/a> to the Bills in a trade last month, Chicago may be wary of moving off another one of <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/caleb-williams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Caleb Williams<\/a>\u2018 targets in the passing game.<\/p>\n<p>Having said that, in this forthcoming receiver-rich draft, it feels fairly likely that the Bears will target a receiver with one of their first three selections in the draft, all of which are in the top 60 picks.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, there are also some fairly solid mid-round tight end prospects such as Eli Stowers and Max Klare that the team could bring in to bulk up the room and make a Kmet departure feel less momentous.<\/p>\n<p>If they do manage to secure a tight end and\/or wideout in the draft this year, it would make substantial financial sense to move off Kmet this offseason. For a team that is just over $1 million below the salary cap in 2026 and ranks #23 in the league in cap space for 2027, getting rid of a veteran deal for a player no longer categorized as a starter would clearly be a prudent move.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/danielarwas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Arwas<\/a> Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com.\u00a0Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics\u00a0and\u00a0The Hammer. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/danielarwas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Daniel Arwas<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bears\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA &#8211; FEBRUARY 24: Head coach Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears speaks to the media&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116395488421165082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}