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Ben Johnson could have a new team looking to pry away a key piece of his Bears' offense after latest NFL bombshell trade

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Kole Noble | Last updated Jun 30, 2025 5:33 PM ET

The NFL never seems to disappoint during the slowest time of the offseason and Monday's latest bombshell trade is the latest example of that.

Earlier today, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins swapped two multi-time All Pro defensive backs in Jalen Ramsey and Minkah Fitzpatrick. After the ground recovered, we learned another player was added to the deal in tight end Jonnu Smith.

Like Ramsey, Smith had become disgruntled with the Dolphins' front office and was able to join the plane to Pittsburgh to fill the Steelers' desire to have a second complementary tight end to Pat Freiermuth.

What does this bombshell have to do with the Chicago Bears? Well, in the aftermath of the trade, NFL Insider Tom Pelissero reported that the Dolphins are now in conversations with multiple teams to acquire a new tight end after dealing Smith away.

And the longest-tenured player on the Bears' roster has started getting brought up by a few accounts in the comments.

The #Dolphins are now in conversations with multiple teams about acquiring a tight end after sending Jonnu Smith to Pittsburgh, per sources.

A wild start to the holiday week could get wilder … pic.twitter.com/11EGxDsVMp
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 30, 2025

Could the Dolphins target Cole Kmet and would the Bears deal him?

This does present an interesting possibility for Chicago looking ahead to the 2025 season and beyond, but it should be a simple answer from the Bears' front office and coach staff, depending on the possible compensation.

Everything shared during the offseason shows that head coach Ben Johnson has a plan for tight end Cole Kmet in his offense, even after using the 10th overall pick to draft Colston Loveland, a move that initially caught Kmet off guard.

Since then, Johnson made sure to reinforce the confidence into his veteran tight end and where he stands on the roster going into 2025.

"I felt good leaving the conversation and I think whenever you meet somebody for the first time, still getting to know Ben, I don't know where he stands on me and quite frankly, I don't know where I stand with him at that point because you're just meeting somebody," Kmet explained to reporters. "I think those are healthy conversations to have."

Those conversations centered around using Kmet and Loveland to create one of the top 2-TE sets in the league, which will be an integral aspect of Johnson's offense.

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But, what if the Dolphins come in with an offer too good to pass up? According to Over The Cap, moving Kmet now would create $14.7 million in dead money, something the Bears wouldn't be willing to eat just for some future draft picks, while losing a valuable locker room leader as well.

After the 2025 season, however, it'll be a different conversation when Kmet's dead cap number drops to $3.2 million with a base salary of $8.9 million and a cap hit of $11.6 million. Then the conversation will really start to get some steam.

Morale of the story, Kmet isn't going anywhere in 2025, so let's stop talking about him like he's on the trade block or something just because Loveland was drafted in April, he's not, and he's still going to play a major role this season.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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