Mel Kiper Jr. announced on Friday that he has Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet as his top draft prospect at that particular position. With that now known, I figured Friday night would be a great time to contextualize a large selection of Kmet’s pass targets from the 2019 season so everyone can get a better feel for the kind of pass catching tight end he is.
I contextualized five Notre Dame games from the 2019 season against Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, Virginia Tech and Boston College and in those five contests Kmet was targeted 36 times in total and registered 26 receptions for 304 yards and four touchdowns.
Kmet’s average intended target distance in these five games that I contextualized was a robust 9.1 yards. His average distance per reception came in a tad lower at 8.5 yards. 96 of his 304 total yards came after the catch for an average of 3.7 yards. It’s worth noting, however, that all four of his touchdowns didn’t require yards after the catch as those passes were caught either art the goal-line or in the end zone. Remove those four receptions and Kmet averaged 4.4 yards after the catch on 22 receptions in these five games.
Five of Kmet’s 26 total receptions in the five games of his from the 2019 season came 15 or more yards past the original line of scrimmage. A few more longer receptions could have been made had the throws to him on those plays been more on target.
Kmet caught passes in all areas of the field in these five contextualized games and he lined up not only flexed out multiple times, but as an inline player as well multiple times. Kmet had two drops in these five games that I charged him with. While he did run various routes in these five games, his tree can probably stand to expanded quite a bit at the next level. He could also stand to be a little better contested catcher.
Kmet seemingly can get down the field in a hurry and does a great job of selling block off the line to get himself free in instances. Several of his receptions in 2019 were with him wide open, however.
| OPP | QRT | TIME | DWN | DIST | LOS | RES | YDS | PDIST | YAC | AREA | LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UGA | 1 | 14:52 | 1 | 10 | ND 25 | C | 8 | 0 | 8 | 4 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 1 | 13:53 | 1 | 15 | ND 21 | C | 10 | 3 | 7 | 3 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 1 | 13:21 | 2 | 5 | ND 31 | C | 15 | 5 | 10 | 3 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 2 | 14:17 | 2 | 10 | ND 42 | C | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 2 | 10:39 | 4 | 1 | UGA 1 | C-TD | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 2 | 1:45 | 2 | 5 | ND 30 | C | 28 | 20 | 8 | 4 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 2 | 1:27 | 1 | 10 | UGA 42 | C | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 3 | 7:46 | 2 | 8 | ND 27 | I | * | 4 | * | 2 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 4 | 6:43 | 2 | 10 | ND 25 | C | 9 | 5 | 4 | 5 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 4 | 5:15 | 2 | 7 | ND 42 | I-DR | * | 4 | * | 4 | VIDEO |
| UGA | 4 | 4:39 | 1 | 10 | UGA 49 | C | 31 | 22 | 9 | 2 | VIDEO |
| UVA | 1 | 9:38 | 3 | 5 | ND 30 | C | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | VIDEO |
| UVA | 1 | 1:19 | 1 | 10 | UVA 37 | C | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | VIDEO |
| UVA | 2 | 6:49 | 2 | 15 | ND 22 | C | 37 | 31 | 6 | 2 | VIDEO |
| UVA | 2 | 5:44 | 3 | 6 | UVA 37 | I | * | 5 | * | 5 | VIDEO |
| UVA | 4 | 4:55 | 3 | 22 | ND 24 | C | 21 | 9 | 12 | 1 | VIDEO |
| MICH | 3 | 5:27 | 2 | 7 | MICH 7 | C-TD | 7 | 9 | 0 | 1 | VIDEO |
| MICH | 4 | 3:59 | 1 | 10 | MICH 47 | C | 18 | 18 | 0 | 1 | VIDEO |
| VT | 1 | 14:47 | 1 | 10 | ND 21 | C | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | VIDEO |
| VT | 1 | 11:24 | 1 | 10 | VT 22 | I | * | 26 | * | 1 | VIDEO |
| VT | 1 | 9:10 | 1 | 8 | VT 8 | C-TD | 8 | 14 | 0 | 3 | VIDEO |
| VT | 1 | 4:16 | 3 | 9 | ND 17 | C | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | VIDEO |
| VT | 4 | 12:09 | 3 | 8 | ND 3 | C | 10 | 3 | 7 | 4 | VIDEO |
| VT | 4 | 8:53 | 3 | 5 | VT 16 | I | * | -4 | * | 4 | VIDEO |
| VT | 4 | 8:23 | 1 | 9 | VT 9 | I | * | 18 | * | 5 | VIDEO |
| VT | 4 | 2:39 | 3 | 3 | ND 20 | I | * | 29 | * | 3 | VIDEO |
| BC | 1 | 3:57 | 2 | 11 | ND 27 | C | 26 | 26 | 0 | 5 | VIDEO |
| BC | 1 | 3:00 | 2 | 7 | BC 44 | C | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | VIDEO |
| BC | 2 | 7:42 | 1 | 15 | ND 20 | C | 14 | 9 | 5 | 4 | VIDEO |
| BC | 2 | 3:46 | 3 | 3 | BC 24 | I-DR | * | -1 | * | 3 | VIDEO |
| BC | 2 | 2:49 | 2 | 10 | BC 18 | C | 12 | 10 | 2 | 3 | VIDEO |
| BC | 2 | 0:55 | 2 | 5 | ND 22 | I | * | 4 | * | 1 | VIDEO |
| BC | 3 | 7:56 | 1 | 10 | BC 26 | C | 8 | -1 | 9 | 3 | VIDEO |
| BC | 3 | 7:41 | 2 | 2 | BC 18 | C | -1 | -2 | 1 | 4 | VIDEO |
| BC | 3 | 5:16 | 2 | 3 | BC 33 | I | * | 23 | * | 2 | VIDEO |
| BC | 3 | 3:44 | 1 | 10 | BC 11 | C-TD | 11 | 11 | 0 | 3 | VIDEO |
