There seems to be at least one exception every year lately, but in general, it takes NFL rookie tight ends some time to get going. Layer in an injury that significantly shortened one game (Week 3) and cost him the next, and Chicago Bears' tight end Colston Loveland had a slow start to his rookie campaign.
Since the Bears' bye week, Loveland has emerged as a bigger factor in the offense. He has at least four targets in each of the last six games, with at least five targets in three of the last five. In fantasy terms, he has at least 6.8 full PPR points in five straight games and at least 8.5 full PPR points in three of the last four.
There has been a case for Loveland to be on fantasy rosters going back a number of weeks, and if not for Brock Bowers going even more nuclear in Week 9 he would have been the TE1 that week.
Colston Loveland has the makings of a fantasy difference maker from here on out
In hs waiver wire column for Week 13, Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus led the tight end category with Loveland.
"While Loveland endured a slow start to the season, he has averaged 12.2 PPR points per game over the past six weeks, which ranks eighth among tight ends who have played in multiple weeks. A lot of that came in his Week 9 game — six receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns — but he has gained at least 40 receiving yards in the three outings after his breakout performance.
"The rookie’s playing time isn’t ideal, as he’s still in a rotation with Cole Kmet, but that hasn’t mattered much in recent weeks since Kmet isn’t taking targets away from Loveland. He’s been considered a high-end TE2 in recent weeks, but each week he plays well keeps moving him up the rankings, and he’s reached the point where he’s a borderline fantasy starter."
Loveland's Week 9 breakout definitely skews his average fantasy points per game in recent weeks. But he has at least 40 yards in each of the subsequent three games, while averaging over 12 yards per catch in each of the last five games. Over those last six games fellow tight end Cole Kmet has more than one catch and two targets once, with 13 total targets to Loveland's 29 over the span.
The playing time thing Jahnke cited is a bit of a misnomer, given how much the Bears use two tight ends (30.56 percent of the time; the ninth-highest rate in the league according to Sumer Sports). Because of that, Loveland and Kmet have been playing roughly the same number of snaps over the last three games.
As Jahnke noted, Week 13 brings a bad matchup for Loveland. But the Philadelphia Eagles just allowed five catches for 60 yards to Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson in Week 12, and only one of six tight ends who has had at least six targets against them this season hasn't had at least five catches, topped 50 yards or scored and four of them posted double-digit fantasy points (full PPR).
As Jahnke also noted, the schedule softens for Loveland from Week 14 to Week 17. Two matchups against the Green Bay Packers (Week 14 and 16) aren't overly daunting, with a similar matchup against the Cleveland Browns in between. The San Francisco 49ers (Week 17) entered Week 12 among the 10 most generous defenses to tight ends.
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As Week 13 waivers get rolling, Loveland is rostered in 35.1 percent of ESPN leagues and 43 percent of Yahoo! leagues. At the position that is the least robust with good options, the Bears' rookie could be a real difference maker during the money-making stretch of the fantasy schedule.