Chicago Bears first-round rookie tight end Colston Loveland has only spent about a month with his new NFL team, but he has already gotten a good sense of the type of quarterback and teammate that he has in Caleb Williams.
Earlier this month, Loveland — the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NFL draft — took part in the NFLPA Rookie Premiere event, which showcased 42 of the league’s incoming rookies and brought them all together for various marketing and branding opportunities.
While at the event, Loveland sat down with FanDuel TV’s daily morning show, “Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams,” and spoke candidly about his experience getting to know Williams through the Bears’ ongoing offseason program over the past month.
“It has been good,” Loveland told Adams last week. “He’s super cool. You can tell he definitely does everything the right way. He’s always grinding in the playbook, having walkthroughs, calling us in, it’s been great. I’m excited, I’m excited to get out there and get things rolling.”
Loveland has already gotten some on-field time with Williams and his other new Bears teammates since April’s draft. The Bears held their first OTA session from May 20 to 22 and began this week the second block of OTAs, which will run from Tuesday to Friday.
The Bears will also hold a three-day mandatory minicamp beginning on June 3, which will give Loveland a nice stretch of days to continue building chemistry with Williams.
Caleb Williams Showing Initiative During Offseason
While Loveland’s positive words about his new quarterback are not overly surprising, it is refreshing to hear that Williams is working around the NFL’s offseason restrictions to get a head start on building chemistry with his Bears teammates — both new and old.
Under the NFL’s current collective bargaining agreement, teams are allowed to practice during the offseason, but there are limitations on their workouts in terms of how many they can hold and the level of contact they are allowed to have. For the most part, OTAs are about installs (learning/teaching the playbook and schemes) and player chemistry.
With some initiative, though, players can organize activities and meet-ups on their own, away from the team, to get ahead of the curve before training camp in July. And that seems to be exactly what Williams is trying to achieve, based on Loveland’s comments.
Good thing, too, given how much the Bears offense is changing heading into 2025.
The Bears will have a new offense under head coach Ben Johnson in 2025, which means everyone will need to put in the work necessary to learn the new plays, formations and terminology. There will be mistakes and hiccups along the way, but Williams’ efforts to organize additional time with his teammates could give them all a valuable head start.
Could Colston Loveland Push for Rookie of the Year?
Expectations are high in 2025 for Loveland as a top-10 selection. The former Michigan standout caught 117 passes for 1,466 yards and 11 touchdowns during his three seasons in the Big Ten, impressing NFL scouts with his athleticism, route-running and reliable hands. His size (6-foot-6, 246 pounds) also presents matchup issues for defenses.
Could Loveland contend as this year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, though?
That likely depends on how quickly he can get on the same page as Williams and absorb Johnson’s complex, detail-focused offense in the months before the 2025 season.
The Bears are undeniably optimistic about what Loveland can bring to their offense. In a surprise move, they passed on several other positions of need to draft him at No. 10 overall, immediately evoking memories of what Johnson accomplished with former second-round pick Sam LaPorta during his time as Detroit’s offensive coordinator.
“I do see a lot of comparisons to LaPorta, but that’s not just on the field, that’s off the field as well,” Johnson said after the draft. “The stage was never too bright for LaPorta, and I felt that same thing with Colston the first time I met him. He doesn’t bat an eye, he performs at a high level, and where we are going in this organization, we need guys who are going to rise up to the occasion, and he’s going to do that for us.”
Loveland, however, will need to work extra hard to carve out a meaningful target share in a Bears offense that features other capable pass-catchers, from wide receivers D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and rookie Luther Burden III to starting tight end Cole Kmet.
Even if he plucks the No. 1 job from Kmet, it will be difficult to achieve high production.
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