The Bears are only at the beginning of training camp, but Caleb Williams is already drawing a clear line for Colston Loveland: talent is the start, not the finish.
Chicago’s first day on the field didn’t produce much noise, and the team is still in the early part of its camp routine. For now, the Bears are working without pads and spending this week walking through the playbook before things get more physical.
Even in that quieter setting, Loveland remains one of the biggest points of interest for Bears fans. The second-year tight end is coming off a rookie season that gave everyone a real reason to believe. He finished with 713 yards and six touchdowns, both team highs last season, and flashed the kind of all-around game that made him the 10th overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft.
Williams sees all of that. But he also made it clear that Loveland’s next step has to come with proof.
"He can become the best tight end in the league. I think he is," Williams said via The Score's Chris Emma.
"But stats and us going out there and proving it is what it's going to take. ... He's an all-encompassing tight end."
That’s the challenge now. Loveland has already shown he can be a dangerous receiver, and he surprised some people with how well he held up as a blocker too.
The raw ability is obvious. What comes next is consistency.
Year 2 is where Loveland has to show he’s not just a promising young player coming off a strong debut. He has to take another jump. Matching last season’s numbers won’t be enough if he wants to keep building the case that he belongs among the league’s elite at the position.
And for the Bears, he’s not just another weapon. He may be the most important one.
Williams clearly trusts him, which showed up late last season when he targeted Loveland 10 or more times in each of the final four games. If Loveland wants to push toward top-five status, that kind of workload figures to keep coming.
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Williams has talked through the work behind it, from improved eating habits to a greater emphasis on sleep, and the idea is simple enough: move better, feel better and settle deeper into the offense. The bigger test is still ahead, though, because looking lighter in July is one thing and carrying that same ease into Ben Johnsons system is another. For the Bears, the encouraging part is that their quarterback seems to be approaching Year 2 with a different kind of edge, even if the real payoff remains to be seen. [Read more 🡒]