Colston Loveland will be TE1 this Fantasy Football Season

The NFL season is fast approaching with the Hall of Fame game taking place this upcoming Thursday. It is finally that time of the year where everyone is prepping on fantasy football to do their drafts and analyze who will break out this season.

One player that will be a near lock to breakout this season is second year tight end for the Chicago Bears, Colston Loveland. Loveland, who was the Bears 2025 first round pick, took a little while to develop into Caleb Williams' most trusted target. 

Loveland had a pretty slow development last year as all rookies do take time to develop but the final few weeks, looking like a monster and was living up to his draft hype and why the Bears took him with the tenth overall pick. 

He had a breakout performance in his first ever playoff game of his career he recorded 137 receiving yard and a critical two point conversion catch that helped lead the Bears to their comeback victory against the rival Green Bay Packers. Loveland did take a slight step back the following week in the divisional round against the Rams with just 56 receiving yards but he was targeted 10 times during the game.

Expectations in 2026:

This season the Bears offense will be one of the better units in the league. Third year quarterback Williams is bound to take another leap forward in his development. With Ben Johnson calling the plays, look for Loveland to have even more success in the field and could just end up being the best tight end in the league by season's end. 

Johnson produced a top 10 offense in his first year as the Bears head coach, with another offseason under his belt and more time to draw up new plays this Bears offense could become dangerous really fast as not only do defenses have to worry about Loveland but they got weapons all over the field in Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, rookie Zavion Thomas and their running back duo of D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. 

For Loveland, this creates more opportunities for him as defenses have to worry about the multiple different weapons that Williams has in his disposal to work with. If Loveland can produce at a very high level in his first ever playoff game against the biggest rival then he should have no problems barring any injuries producing at a high level all season long. 

Fantasy Tight End One?

The tight ends this year are more wide open than ever. Travis Kelce is getting closer to retirement and has production took a major dip last season. George Kittle who suffered a season ending injury last year is being placed on the PUP list to start the season. While there are other ascending tight ends like Brock Bowers and Tyler Warren who are both expected to be among the top of the group this year as well. 

Loveland has a better coach and supporting cast than both of them, so his upside could be higher than both and could lead to him being tight end one by the time fantasy season is over.