It was with a hearty smile on his face that Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos suggested tight end Cole Kmet deserved an award after Sunday’s 35-16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Kmet filled in as the long snapper after Scott Daly suffered a left knee injury while covering the team’s second — and final — punt of the game late in the first quarter. Kmet executed successful snaps on five extra points as the Bears avoided disaster.
“Cole did a heck of a job,” Santos said. “Special teams player of the week.”
Santos proved prophetic as the NFL announced Wednesday that Kmet was named NFC special teams player of the week. The league confirmed he’s the first long snapper to win the award in the NFC or AFC.
“That’s funny as hell,” said former long snapper Patrick Mannelly, who played in a franchise-record 245 games for the Bears. “The NFL is crazy. What he did was impressive. I’ve got to give him credit.”
Mannelly laughed harder when told Kmet was the first long snapper to be awarded, perhaps a sign of how much the task is taken for granted.
“That’s a good call,” Mannelly said. “There were times, early in my career, I had perfect snaps and like two tackles. That’s an epic game for a long snapper but that never got noticed. Maybe now that Cole did what he did, perhaps guys will get noticed if they have perfect snaps and then cover.”
Kmet also led the Bears with 70 receiving yards and had two touchdown catches — going immediately from scoring to long snapping.
As the emergency snapper, Kmet gets two or three reps each week in the Thursday practice. His snaps were a little high Sunday, and a high snap led to a block on Santos’ 43-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter. But the Bears had enough faith in Kmet to avoid going for 2-point conversions after touchdowns.
“The operation is different when it’s between a professional long snapper and a backup, but Cole did a great job,” Santos said. “Snap a comfortable ball and (holder) Tory (Taylor) and I will make it right. The time is usually off — how much slower it was. But Jacksonville rushed really hard. They knew blood was in the water when you’ve got a different operation. They were coming.”
Taylor won the award in Week 4 for his punting. It’s the first time two Bears players have won special teams player of the week awards in the same season since Danieal Manning and Zack Bowman in 2008.
“Definitely not a position I envisioned playing in the NFL, ever,” Kmet said. “But you know, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and there’s only so many guys you can dress on game day and only so many guys that you can have on the roster.
“You have to have somebody that can be the emergency and I’m that guy, reluctantly at times. Hopefully Scott is doing all right and heals up OK, but just glad I could go out there and provide something for the team in that regard.”
It’s believed that Daly — who had surgery on his left knee after an injury last season with the Detroit Lions — avoided a serious injury. Patrick Scales remains on injured reserve as he recovers from back surgery, and the Bears covered themselves Tuesday by signing two-time Pro Bowl long snapper Jake McQuaide, 36, to the practice squad.
If nothing else, the Bears know they can count on Kmet in a pinch.