Bear Digest

DJ Moore and Cole Kmet Can Appreciate Caleb Williams' Arm

Caleb Williams has gone a long way toward winning over the confidence of Cole Kmet and DJ Moore after offseason work but there will be plenty of obstacles ahead.

Gene Chamberlain

DJ Moore and Cole Kmet See Clock Ticking on Bears Offense.mp4
DJ Moore and Cole Kmet See Clock Ticking on Bears Offense.mp4 /

Count them up and DJ Moore wins by a bit over Cole Kmet, thanks largely to two more seasons in the NFL.

Moore has chased passes from 12 quarterbacks in five NFL seasons with two teams. Kmet has chased passes from nine QBs with the Bears but it's only been since 2020.

So they are true connoisseurs of less than efficient passing, and when they saw passes from Fields during offseason work their hopes immediately rose.

"Straight off the bat, he's just a leader," Moore said. "He took control of the huddle. His arm talent was amazing. I think that's what stood out to everybody. And him trying to make all those throws this offseason in OTAs was like, 'Dang, he really just made that.' Or 'He just did that on the run.'

"It was amazing to see. I'm looking forward to seeing it in full speed against the defense with pads and stuff. So I'm looking forward to it."

Moore couldn't get too carried away considering it was practice, and offseason practice at that.

It's going to be different starting Saturday at practice, and even more so when pads come on and then when preseason games begin.

"You could say he’s ahead of things in the OTA aspect, but when we get out there in live action, we’ll really see the expectations and how everything flows, if it transfers over or if he's going to have those rookie curves that you got to overcome," Moore said.

Williams will need to lean on teammates more with the higher competition level.

"I felt we were able to build a really good rapport with Caleb during the OTAs session and get to know him as a person really well," Kmet said. "You just hope throughout this whole process, he feels comfortable enough to approach each and every one of us to help guide him through this whole deal he's going to be going through."

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Kmet remembered his own rookie year and saw this as a reason he came out of it despite pitfalls.

"I mean, well, they're inevitable," Kmet said. "Everyone goes through them throughout the year. I think as the older you get, you learn how to deal with them better and better.

"I remember when I had Jimmy (Graham) in the locker room with me, having older guys to lean on, to talk to and help you through the process, it's big time. I felt we were able to build a really good rapport with Caleb during the OTAs session and get to know him as a person really well. You just hope throughout this whole process, he feels comfortable enough to approach each and every one of us to help guide him through this whole deal he's going to be going through."

Neither Kmet nor Moore made it to an offseason throwing session Williams held in L.A., so they'll lean on the reps they had in OTA and minicamp work with Williams as a basis for their connections.

Bringing a passing game with a new quarterback, new offense and coordinator up to speed in little time is not going to be easy. 

"Yeah, the urgency, we got to get this thing going quickly," Kmet said. "There's not going to be time to kind of meander through this thing. We got to get this thing going quickly here. We got to operate at a high level, we've got to really take advantage of our walk-throughs when we get these things at night.

"The better we are through these things, the faster we will be on game day. But it's got to happen quickly."

All of DJ Moore's QBs

Cam Newton

Taylor Heicke

Kyle Allen

Will Grier

P.J. Walker

Teddy Bridgewater

Garrett Gilbert

Sam Darnold

Baker Mayfield

Jacob Eason

Justin Fields

Tyson Bagent

Cole Kmet's QBs

Mitchell Trubisky

Nick Foles

Tyler Bray

Andy Dalton

Tim Boyle

Trevor Siemian

Nathan Peterman

Tyson Bagent

Justin Fields

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.