Cole Kmet injury update: Latest on Bears TE for Fantasy Football Week 10

Cole Kmet will be a critical player for Chicago if the Bears offense is to have any chance for their Thursday Night game against the Carolina Panthers. Both teams are struggling coming into the game and will have an chance to prove their doubters wrong on primetime.

The Bears are already without their starting quarterback Justin Fields. He has been limited in practice with a thumb injury on his right throwing hand. Losing Cole Kmet could further slow down their offense in a must-win game.

Cole Kmet Injury Update

Cole Kmet was a surprising addition to the Week 10 injury report. There were fears that he had aggravated his hamstring injury that was reported after their game against the Washington Commanders. Instead, it listed his knee as the problem. It was unexpected to say the least, because he was not expected to be on there.

The bad news for the Bears is that he did not practice on Monday at all. However, he was shown as full practice the very next day.

What happened to Cole Kmet?

Based on the above information, it is tought to surmise what happened with the tight end. It is generally unlikely when there is a serious injury that they can practice in full the very next day after not suiting up just a day before.

Instead, what might be happening here is that the Bears are trying to protect Cole Kmet. They know that he takes the largest share of snaps on offense and given that Justin Fields was still limited in practice, they need to have him healthy to give them a chance to win with Tyson Bagent.

A good preview of this was when he was listed with a hamstring injury after the commanders game, as mentioned before. At the time, he had said,

“I was feeling like crap after the game Thursday. I played over 120 snaps in five days, so that beats you up pretty good. I wasn’t feeling really honestly great. Monday, I as starting to feel a little bit better, just my whole body.”

It is very likely that what has happened here is of a similar nature. It is unlikely that he had a serious knee injury. Rather, it is more probable that a slightly banged up knee was one of the problems in addition to his general health. And that caused the Chicago coaching staff to make a decision to give him an off-day, especially considering the shorter turnaround as they are playing the early game this week.

When will Cole Kmet return?

Based on the above information, Cole Kmet is expected to be ready for the game against the Carolina Panthers. That is good news for fantasy football managers. Both teams come into this matchup having lost seven games.

In normal circumstances, and against most teams, taking anyone from the Bears' offense might be a foolhardy proposition in terms of scoring fantasy points. But the Panthers are not the strongest team in the league.

However, a word of caution here, since the Panthers' defense ranks towards the top of the league, allowing 310 yards per game on average, which is better than more vaunted defenses like the New York Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles. But they rank towards the bottom in run defense, allowing 131.8 yards per game, which is the fifth-worst in the league.

Therefore, the Bears might make a conscious decision to run the ball more than they usually do. In such a scheme, production for Cole Kmet will automatically decrease and fantasy football managers should take that into consideration. There is the added factor to consider as well that Brian Burns is out with concussion for the game, which might alter the approach slightly for Chicago too.

Ultimately, the game remains too close to call but the Bears tight end will likely see the field barring any unfortunate developments.