Colston Loveland arrived in Chicago as a first-round pick and finished his rookie season as the TE15 in points per game. That number sits well below where the fantasy community is now drafting him. His price has climbed to the 4/5 turn this summer. Should fantasy managers pay up for Loveland in 2026?
Should You Draft Colston Loveland in Fantasy Football?
I’m going to try to take my bias out of the picture.
In PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, Loveland currently has an ADP of 43.8. That’s either a 4th-round pick or a 5th-round pick, depending on how many people are in your league. Pro Football Network’s fantasy experts, though, are really high on him. Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe have him as the 31st player in their fantasy football rankings. They have him as TE3 behind Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.
That’s a big jump from the 16th rank in points per game he had in fantasy football last year in PPR. But you also need to keep in mind that in his last four games, including those two postseason matchups, he averaged 20 points per game in PPR formats, and from Week 9 onward he was on a 17-game pace of over 1,000 receiving yards. Trey McBride was the only tight end to do that.
The fact that Loveland performed as well as he did in the full-season rankings, despite having a very minimal role in the Bears offense in the first half of the season, says a lot about just how good the second half of his year was. Yes, it’s a bit of a projection to have him jumping in as a TE3, but he was legitimately producing at that level for most of the second half of the year. It’s a big jump, but I am absolutely buying in on it.
I think Loveland having another year to work in Ben Johnson’s system, to understand the intricacies, the route depth, the tempo, and everything that he needs to run, is really going to maximize the athleticism that we saw in the second half of the year. I think a full offseason in the Bears organization is going to really benefit Loveland.
I’m absolutely taking Loveland at his current ADP of 43.8. I think Loveland has the potential to be a fantasy football steal and one of the best tight ends in fantasy football this year.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
Colston Loveland’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
These strong offenses are going to burn you some weeks.
We see the Baltimore offense elevate the pass game or the run game. The Jags have four receivers that can have a big week and leave their teammates underachieving.
I think we see that at some level in Chicago, but Loveland should be immune to the duds, especially when you consider the low bar that it takes to be viable at the TE position.
Luther Burden, Rome Odunze, and D’Andre Swift are all players we like and drafted as weekly assets this summer. I think that was the right call, but if you’re asking me which skill player leads the team in startable weeks, it’s Loveland, and it’s not close.
If you asked me which of them would lead them in Tier 1 weeks (define it however you’d like), it’s Loveland.
I don’t think he needs to be facing the Panthers (second-most yards allowed per target to tight ends last season) to establish himself as the clear alpha in this offense, but it doesn’t hurt. This is a great pay-up option in the DFS space: he’s in the mix to lead the position in scoring when all is said and done this week.
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Where Loveland Ranks Among 2026 Tight Ends
- Brock Bowers | LV
- Trey McBride | ARI
- Colston Loveland | CHI
- Tucker Kraft | GB
- Tyler Warren | IND
- Sam LaPorta | DET
- George Kittle | SF
- Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE
- Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL
- Dalton Kincaid | BUF
- Isaiah Likely | NYG
Analysts Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe rank every tight end on PFN's 2026 PPR Consensus Board.
