Rookie Ready: Colston Loveland’s fast start in Bears camp

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 18 hours ago

CHICAGO - The Bears drafted for talent as opposed to need when they took tight end Colston Loveland with the No. 10 overall pick in the draft back in April.

That seems to be paying dividends now that he has been able to participate in training camp after recovering from surgery.

“Physically not being able to be out there in the spring, just been diving into the playbook, taking the mental reps. So, it’s one thing to go out there and run them and do it. So, still, I’m working everyday to get better, be perfect. Obviously, perfection’s tough. But, working everyday to do that. Things are going to come up on the way, but just learning from those things and not letting them happen again,” Loveland said. “It’s a blessing to finally be out here with the guys, just working everyday, continuing to get better. You can’t ask for much more. Learned a lot throughout the process obviously and became a better man. Just excited to be out here and work with my team.”

Loveland had a good coach in college as he learned from now NFL coach, Jim Harbaugh. Thus, he is familiar with an NFL-caliber offensive scheme. What he is being asked in Chicago is similar to Harbaugh’s approach in Michigan - learn the offense conceptually from all positions.

This is something Loveland has taken to in Chicago and seems to be making a lot of progress despite not being able to run plays with the offense until recently.

“As an offense, they teach us to learn conceptually (because) they’re formations (where) we’ll be out wide, receivers will be doing tight end things. So, the easiest way to do it is just learn conceptually, learn the formations as a whole, learn the plays as a whole,” Loveland said. “So, in a call out period, he calls something maybe we never ran before. You already know what’s going on. So, I think that’s a big thing and that’s a great thing about this offense is you can be anywhere - receiver, tight end, running back. So, being able to just learn the whole offense and be put in positions maybe you weren’t put in, that’s a blessing for sure.”

There are two critical aspects to an NFL tight end - pass blocking and catching. Loveland’s abilities at both of these aspects jumped off the film when evaluating him coming out of college.

He attributes his pass-catching abilities in part to his older brother, who is a receiver.

“I grew up playing receiver throughout my life. Shout out to my older brother. He’s a receiver. He helped me a lot with that and then, my coaches throughout the years. High school coaches, college coaches, now NFL coaches. They’ve all had a big part of it and it’s helped for sure,” Loveland said. “You’re not just going to be a pass catching tight end or a run blocking tight end. You’re going to be asked to do it all and you wouldn’t want it any other way. So, it feels good. Obviously, I got a lot to improve. There’s really good defensive players on the other side of the ball as well, especially on our team. So, it’s great runs in practice. It’s good competition and just blessed to be out there to be able to do it.”

On Chicago’s first depth chart, Loveland was listed as the only rookie who is a starter as he is currently slotted in the starting position for the No. 2 tight end. Veteran Cole Kmet is listed as the starter for the No. 1 tight end.

While Loveland and Kmet are competing for positioning in this offense, Loveland said Kmet, as well as the rest of the tight end room, are just working to be their best.

“Cole’s a stud. (A) lot of our tight ends in the room are studs,” Loveland said. “(Right) now, we’re just working, putting in the whole offense, running the plays, getting plays (run), getting the reps and whatever the coaches ask us to do, we’re going to go out there and do it the best of our ability. Whatever we’ve got to do to win games is what we’re going to do.”