As it would tend to with a rookie tight end, not to mention all the other mouths to feed in the Chicago Bears' offense and an injury that basically cost him two games early in the season, it took Colston Loveland a little time to get rolling last season.
But once he got going..
Starting with his breakout game in Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Loveland was a top-five fantasy tight end any way you slice it over the rest of the season (scoring format; through Week 17 or Week 18).
So it's easy to envision big things for Loveland in 2026, with a primary role in the Bears' offense from the start and a year of experience under his belt.
Colston Loveland's finish to his rookie season was easy launch point for 2026
As part of his 25 trends to know before fantasy football draft season begins, ESPN's Mike Clay had some notes about Loveland.
"After averaging 4.1 targets and 8.5 fantasy points per game over his first 14 NFL games, Colston Loveland leaped to 12 targets (10-plus in each) and 20.0 fantasy PPG during his final four games of 2025 (including the playoffs)."
"For perspective, there have been only 12 other instances of a tight end seeing 10-plus targets in four consecutive regular-season games in NFL history. Those tight ends: Kellen Winslow Sr., Jeremy Shockey, Shannon Sharpe, Brandon Pettigrew, Trey McBride, Travis Kelce, Tyler Higbee, Tony Gonzalez (four times) and Zach Ertz. That's an extremely impressive list, and it's noteworthy that only Shockey achieved it as a rookie."
Any list that includes three Hall of Famers (Winslow, Sharpe and Gonzalez), one sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer five years after he calls is a career (Kelce) and someone who may be on a Hall of Fame career track (McBride) is quite the company to be in.
The finish to his rookie season put Loveland in some very unique historical air among tight ends, and Clay's early vision of his 2026 fantasy outlook land as an easy follow-up to that.
"Loveland enters his age-22 season positioned for a massive workload alongside Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III. Midrange fantasy TE1 should be his floor."
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Loveland's 17-game pace over the final four games of his rookie season (119 catches, 204 targets, 1,606 yards and eight touchdowns) is not realistically sustainable. But a full Year 2 breakout within sniffing distance of those numbers also isn't out of the question.