Colston Loveland is becoming more unguardable everyday in Bears training camp, putting him on trajectory to be among the NFL’s best
Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland is dominating through three days of training camp, especially on Friday, as he looks to continue his rapid rise among the NFL’s best.
Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland has been another one of the standout players through the first three days of training camp at Halas Hall, dominating linebackers in coverage and flashing the kind of Year 2 leap that could vault him into the conversation as one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
The second-year tight end posted highlight after highlight between Thursday and Friday’s practices, looking absolutely dominant against Chicago’s defense.
Colston Loveland dominating Chicago’s defense throughout first three days of camp
The Bears posted a couple of highlights from Thursday’s training camp practice with one highlight featuring Loveland absolutely routing up Jon Rhattigan, the veteran linebacker. Now, Rhattigan isn’t a starter for the Bears, serving as one of the reserve linebackers in Dennis Allen’s defense, but he still had no chance in coverage against Loveland on the play. It was a true mismatch against a linebacker with Loveland’s speed and route running.
Loveland dominating the linebackers continued into Friday’s practice, even against starting-caliber players. On one of the early reps, Loveland went up and mossed Devin Bush, one of the starting linebackers Chicago brought in during the offseason. Loveland showed off his catch radius coming down with a tough contested catch over a defender who simply couldn’t match his size. It was one of the highlight plays of Friday’s session.
At the end of Friday’s practice, the Bears ran a two-minute drill situation with the first-team offense, during which Loveland took over. He hauled in four catches during the drill, including the final touchdown. He is dominating everyone on the Bears defense right now, and he looks unguardable doing it.
What makes Loveland’s early dominance even more promising is that the Bears haven’t yet deployed him on the outside yet, where head coach Ben Johnson can get creative and mismatch his size and athleticism against cornerbacks. So far, the damage has come entirely against the safeties and linebackers. Although, cornerback Jaylon Johnson did come down with one interception on Friday after jumping the route on a ball targeted to Loveland.
Caleb Williams boldly claims where Colston Loveland projects to end up in 2026
Loveland was already the seventh-ranked tight end in the league according to coaches, executives, and scouts after his rookie season. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took it a step further earlier in the week, saying that Colson Loveland could become the best tight end in the league by the end of the 2026 season.
“He can become the best tight end in the league,” Williams said. “I think he is. But stats and us going out there and proving it is what it is going to take, and to be able to do that we’ve got to put in work, we’ve got to build a connection, hang out inside and outside the building, have tough conversations or have open communication throughout the year and throughout camp. So its going to be exciting, it’s going to be fun.”
That kind of endorsement from your franchise quarterback says a lot about the growth Loveland has shown heading into Year 2. And based on what he’s done through the first three days of camp, it’s not hard to see why Williams feels that way.
“He’s such a big target, easy target, runs thew right routes and nice routes, and then other than that he can run block and disguise things,” Williams added. “He’s an all-encompassing tight end.”
By the end of this season, I firmly believe Loveland has the potential to crack in the top four at his position alongside Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, and George Kittle. It’s only been three days of training camp, but Loveland’s ceiling is extraordinarily high entering Year 2, and the Bears have every reason to believe he’s just getting started.
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