PatriotMaven Scouting Profile: Cole Kmet

Could this Notre Dame prospect be the next great tight end project for the New England Patriots?

Notre Dame's Cole Kmet is a guy with an exceptionally high ceiling. If he can put everything together, Kmet can be a good tight end in the NFL for a long time. 

Kmet is still very much developing. It was not until his junior year that he quit playing baseball to focus on football. This is when his potential really started to be realized by many. His combination of size and athleticism certainly make him an intriguing prospect, and if he can make up for the years he neglected his technique, he can tap into the potential I was just referring to. 

Let's dive right into Kmet's scouting profile:

Type and versatility

- He's really an in-line type tight end, not much more to it. However, lining him up against a safety or cornerback out wide makes for some interesting potential mismatches. Kmet is very physical. 

Hands

- Really solid in this department. Kmet has soft mits and great hand-eye coordination, which probably developed during his baseball years. 

- Kmet's catch radius is solid and not too many body catches show up on the tape. 

Route tree

- His route tree is slightly limited. His technique is not great and he wasn't asked to run many routes. He mostly just vertically stretched the field, ran option routes or in and outs. 

- Notre Dame had him running shorter routes in third-down situations and/or red zone scenarios. He had a lot of success there as he is a very dependable target. 

Blocking

- His blocking is what will make him slide down draft boards and have teams wait to pick him later. The bright side is that he has the frame to develop into a solid blocker. He just needs to put it all together and really work on his technique. According to sources close to SI's Bryan Driskell who covers the Fighting Irish, Kmet apparently "Knows that part of his game was lacking, and the sources I speak with have said he’s been spending a lot of time on that part of the game."

- His approach to blocking on tape was pretty flawed. Bad blocking technique leads to bad blocking. Hopefully he is starting to turn things around in practices and workouts right now. 

- His flaws are mostly this. He does things such as struggle to keep his balance, which stems from his footwork, which impacts how wide his base is. From there, he finds himself lunging at defenders a lot, then finds himself on the ground. He struggled to finish blocks. Kmet also doesn't generate enough power from legs and lower half. 

- There were some bright spots, obviously. He works well with double-teams. He just doesn't succeed in one-on-one situations yet, which needs to improve and should improve with proper technique and a little added strength. 

Technique and fundamentals

- The technique and fundamentals are things he can still learn and is currently working on, yet it is his biggest draw back that makes his draft stock somewhat unpredictable. 

- He has plenty of size, athleticism, and great hands. But his grasp of the fundamentals and the little technical things is minimal. This grasp has affected his route tree, his blocking, and the ways in which he is used. In order to be more than just a situational or backup tight end at the next level, his technique will need to improve. 

Size

- Kmet ate his green beans and drank his milk as a kid. Plenty of size for him. Kmet is reportedly 6-foot-5, 250 pounds. That is due for confirmation at the combine. However, based off that report, he is a big kid. Plus, to have his athleticism and size allows you to try and match him up against a smaller safety or corner and let him get physical, fight for the ball, and win on a back shoulder throw. 

Athleticism

- While he is not explosive, per say, he is smooth. Kmet runs well and his 40-time will be interesting to see at the combine. Kmet could end up running in the high 4.6s, which would be pretty good for a man of his size. 

- The combo of size and quickness was something that Belichick loved about Rob Gronkowski. He used Gronk in a multitude of different ways to try and create mismatches. The Patriots could try do create mismatches with Kmet, just like Gronk. 

Film

Kmet went bonkers in this game. Really nice display by him overall. Here, he runs straight up the seam and takes the hard hit. Solid play here that happens to be giving me Jason Witten vibes. 

One of his better blocking efforts comes right here. Kmet should file this away in the "How I am suppose to block" folder. 

Just wanted everyone to see a contested catch situation. Kmet has really strong hands and he fights for this ball against a safety. He does it in a clutch situation too, as it was 4th-and-2. 

Fit

Kmet would be a development-type player that might take a little while to unlock his full potential. However, New England can plug him right in as a receiving threat to start out his career. They can move him around and try to create mismatches with their big, quick weapon. He could provide a multitude of options that the Patriots did not have with Ben Watson and Matt LaCosse last season.