Colston Loveland received the vindication Bears fans can get behind big time

When the Chicago Bears drafted Colston Loveland tenth overall in the 2025 NFL draft, it felt like a small reach.

Loveland was not coming off his best year in college, and the team chose him over Tyler Warren, whom many liked more. This looked true through about the halfway point of the 2025 season, but now almost all would agree that Loveland was a great pick and the smart one.

Pro Football Focus agrees, and they not only think Loveland was the best rookie tight end, but they feel he was one of the best players at the entire position. In their position rankings, Loveland graded out as the third-best tight end in the NFL.

Colston Loveland is already one of the NFL’s best tight ends

PFF grading is a bit wonky, leading to Dalton Kincaid ranking second and Jackson Hawes ranking fourth, both playing for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are not some tight-end super team; they just use both players in defined roles, and they grade out very well in those roles. They are not asked to do things that they struggle with, and it does not hurt their grade.

Still, George Kittle and Sam LaPorta rounded out the top five, showing that Loveland is still a strong overall option. He was asked to do all aspects of playing tight end and still graded out well.

With Kittle coming off an injury and Travis Kelce debating retirement, it looks like a new wave of tight ends is about to take over the NFL. When factoring in age, health, and all of those important factors, the list of tight ends that teams would start building their roster with would include Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, Loveland, Warren, LaPorta, and Tucker Kraft. All six of these players are pass-catching and blocking threats; they are all young and have more to show, but they have already been productive in the NFL.

Loveland may not be the first tight end selected, but he would not be the sixth, either. This is now one of the elite tight ends in the NFL moving forward, and one that every team would love to build a roster around.