If there’ were any doubt about Bears tight end Colston Loveland’s place in the NFL landscape, consider this: He was invited to the wedding of the year.
Loveland attended Travis Kelce and global superstar Taylor Swift’s nuptials in Madison Square Garden July 3, the result of the relationship he’d developed with the Chiefs star through the “Tight End U” offseason summit.
Loveland was the only Bears player in attendance, though he had a few NFL friends there. The best part about the wedding, Loveland said, was people-watching. His favorite: actor and comedian Adam Sandler, who actually performed the ceremony.
“It was fun, man,” he told the Sun-Times with a smile breaking across his face. “A lot of elite people there. It was cool.”
Loveland may never reach the level of popularity of his new friend — and definitely not that of his singing sensation wife. In NFL circles, though, the second-year tight end is considered a budding superstar. And while attention is nothing new to the man from small-town Gooding, Idaho — he was the leading receiver in Michigan’s national championship game, after all — it’s reached a new level.
“I’ve been praying for times like this,” he said. “It’s very cool.”
It might be just the beginning for the someone who, at only 22, is already one of the league’s most unique weapons.
“Rare,” receiver Rome Odunze said. “A diamond.”
People Loveland’s size — he’s 6-6, 241 pounds, with huge 10-inch hands — don’t usually move the way he does. He’s fast, sure, but what impresses linebacker T.J. Edwards is how fluid he runs his routes. Most tight ends start chopping their feet when they’re getting ready to break out of their initial sprint, but Edwards can’t tell where Loveland is going to go.
He moves like a giant wide receiver, which is where the Bears put him last year. About 77% of his receiving yards came when he was either in the slot or split wide. He works on his craft like one, too, catching 100 balls from a JUGS machine — it’s a pitching machine for footballs — before every practice. He bought one for his house, too, and invites his teammates over on off days.
“That’s the part that’s gonna make him great,” receiver Kalif Raymond said, “because he wants it that bad.”
Loveland feels more confident than he did at this time last year, when he was learning the playbook after recovering from monthslong shoulder surgery rehab. He’s found more efficient ways to go about his day, perfecting his note-taking in meetings, finding better stretching drills to do before practice and just learning how to manage his schedule while living on his own.
“It’s growing up,” he said.
The 10th pick of the 2025 draft led the Bears with 713 receiving yards last year. He averaged 1.9 yards per route run, the fourth-most of all qualifying tight ends.
He got better as the year went on. Over the Bears’ last five games, counting the postseason, he was targeted on 25% of the Bears’ passes and averaged 82 yards per game. Both would have led all NFL tight ends during the course of a full season.
Loveland is a willing blocker, too — “He’s holding his own like he’s a tackle,” Odunze said — and that makes him the perfect Ben Johnson chess piece.
Last year, the Bears used two tight end sets 33% of the time, the sixth-most frequent in the NFL, and three tight ends 9% of the time, which was fifth.
At his core, Johnson lives to find advantages in the run game. He uses heavy formations to see how the opposing coordinator wants to counter the Bears. If the opponent uses five defensive backs, the Bears can lean on Loveland and Cole Kmet to block smaller players on run plays. If the opponent stays in base defense, Loveland will often end up being guarded by a safety or linebacker on passing downs.
“I think he’s a really hard matchup for any safety in this league, any linebacker in this league that wants to cover him in man,” Johnson said. “That’s a tough ask. He’s too big for these nickels to cover if that’s the matchup that ends up dictating itself.”
Which defender does Loveland prefer?
“I can’t tell on myself like that,” he said, laughing.
Kmet is curious what opposing coordinators will try against him.
“You for sure don’t want the ‘backer on him, you don’t want the safety,” Kmet said. “They go small on us, like, we’re gonna run it down your throat. So you know he’s definitely a weapon that opens up a lot of things for the offense.”
If Loveland gets double-teamed in the red zone, the Bears have plenty of options — receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden, running back D’Andre Swift, Kmet and others.
“We have so many other weapons,” Loveland said. “You can’t focus on one person or you’re going to get beat on the other side.”
Focusing on Loveland, though, would be a good place to start.
“He’s a huge asset for us,” Johnson said.
