A recent fantasy football argument tried to downplay Colston Loveland’s rookie season, but the numbers don’t really cooperate with that story.
Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland spent part of training camp working back from an injury, then found his rhythm as his first season went along. That late-season surge has only added to the buzz around him heading into 2026, especially with head coach Ben Johnson sounding upbeat in June.
“He’s one of the most consistent players I’ve ever been around, and that’s saying a lot,"Johnson said in June. "I'm really happy with where he is at right now. We are able to take the route tree to the next level."
There’s no question Loveland’s pace over his final four games, including the two playoff games, would be tough to sustain over a full season. But that doesn’t make the stretch any less meaningful, and it certainly doesn’t erase the broader picture of how he finished.
Scott Barrett of Fantasy Points tried to frame the conversation around “who is the real sophomore TE1?” by comparing Loveland’s last four games in 2025 with the last four games of Cleveland Browns tight end Harold Fannin. In doing so, he posted that Loveland’s final four games were “the only games all year he was any good.”
That’s the part that drew the loudest pushback.
From Week 9 through Week 18 last season, Loveland was the TE2 in fantasy regardless of scoring format. If you stop at Week 17, which is the finish line in most leagues, he still ranked as a top-five tight end in every format. That’s a lot more than a four-game blip.
Barrett’s comparison did what comparisons like this often do: it spotlighted the areas where Fannin looked better and left Loveland looking less impressive by design. That part of the debate is fair enough. The gap in Average Draft Position between the two is real, and Loveland’s higher price tag does create more risk for fantasy managers, especially for those who prefer to wait on the position.
But the claim that Loveland only flashed for four games last season doesn’t hold up. If the goal was to argue that Fannin deserves the edge, the numbers Barrett chose were enough to make that case without adding a layer that wasn’t true.
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Bears Made A Secondary Gamble That Could Decide Everything
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Now the burden falls on Dennis Allen to stitch the group together quickly enough to matter. The good news for Chicago is that Ben Johnsons offense should help keep the defense from being asked to carry too much too soon, but the real question is whether this gamble in the secondary can hold up once the games start counting and the rotation gets tested. [Read more 🡒]