Colston Loveland’s rise has become one of the louder storylines of the NFL offseason, and the Chicago Bears tight end is walking straight into a Week 1 matchup that should tell us plenty about how real the buzz is.
Chicago opens against the Carolina Panthers, and Loveland won’t exactly get a soft landing. Carolina brought in inside linebackers Devin Lloyd and Bobby Okereke this offseason to help stabilize the defense, and both figures to be part of the plan to slow down one of the league’s most talked-about young tight ends.
The attention around Loveland has been building for months, and it makes sense. The Bears reshaped their passing game to put him front and center late last year, and his 25 targets across the two playoff games were the clearest sign yet of how much he matters in Ben Johnson’s offense.
Carolina, though, has two linebackers who can make life difficult in coverage.
Lloyd was the better pass defender of the pair last season. He posted the fourth-highest coverage grade among linebackers at 80.2, according to Pro Football Focus, and the production matched the grade.
In Jacksonville, he finished with seven pass breakups and five interceptions, including a 99-yard pick-six. He also allowed 33 completions on 47 targets in 2025, but his opposing quarterback rating was only 57.1, which points to a defender who kept things tight even when passes were completed.
Okereke brings his own résumé to the matchup. Last season with the Giants, he had six pass breakups and two interceptions while allowing a quarterback rating of 84.8. He also gave up just two touchdowns across 624 coverage snaps.
That doesn’t mean Loveland is headed for a quiet afternoon. Elite players still tend to get theirs, and last year Trey McBride went for nine catches and 79 yards against Lloyd’s Jaguars defense. But this is still a real test, especially if Loveland finds himself matched with an inside linebacker or trapped in man coverage.
If he handles it well, the hype train keeps rolling.
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