Bears’ Johnson Gets His Tight End, But Not The One Most Expected

Tyler Warren was electrifying as a senior at Penn State. He delivered one of the best seasons ever by a tight end but the Chicago Bears’ Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson must believe it was an outlier, as a 22-year-old who was in his fifth season in Happy Valley.

Poles, the Bear’s fourth-year general manager and Johnson, his rookie head coach, bypassed Warren to select University of Michigan tight Colston Loveland with the 10th overall pick on Monday. Warren was selected four picks later by the Indianapolis Colts, who had been projected to take Loveland.

It’s unclear if Poles made a late switch or if draft analysts always had it wrong. But Warren seemed like an easy choice after the Bears saw running back Ashton Jeanty go to Las Vegas and the top two tackles, Will Campbell and Armand Membou, be selected by New England and the New York Jets.

Johnson and Poles are focused on helping second-year quarterback Caleb Williams deliver 4,000-plus passing yards next season. Loveland, who ESPN analyst Louis Riddick says “plays like a big wide receiver,” should be able to do that.

But how do you pass on Warren? The winner of the Mackey Award for the top college tight end caught 104 passes for 1233 yards last year, and through creative usage also ran for four touchdown.

Loveland caught only 49 more passes in his Michigan career than Warren did in 2024. Not only that, but Loveland is coming off January surgery to repair a dislocated AC joint that prematurely ended his season on November 23.

This is a bold pick. It is choosing the road less traveled.

Poles and Johnson see projection in Loveland in his early NFL years. He graduated from Gooding (Id.) High School in 2021, when Warren was already in his second year at Penn State. Warren turns 23 next month; Loveland played as a 20-year-old last year at Michigan, not turning 21 until earlier this month.

The NFL measured Loveland at 6-5 3/4, weighing 248 pounds. Pro Football Focus’ scouting report describes him as one-dimensional, a blocker who is often overmatched but a dangerous receiver. He caught 56 passes for 582 yards and five touchdowns in 11 games last season, with an average of 2.67 yards per route run.

PFF gave Loveland a 90.6 receiving grade but a 53.3 run-blocking grade. Their report praises his “movement skills,” “natural hands” and “crisp routes.”

Johnson’s hope must be that Loveland can be for the Bears what Sam LaPorta was for Detroit in his rookie season. After being selected at the top of the second round in 2023, LaPorta caught 86 passes for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Bears gave tight end Cole Kmet a five-year, $50-million extension in 2023, with $32.793 million guaranteed. Kmet caught 73 passes in 2023 but dipped to 47 last year, when he was Williams’ fourth most frequent target. The Bears have flexibility with Kmet, as his front-loaded contract carries only $4.8 million in dead-cap money after 2025, split over two seasons.

Poles is expected to focus on adding a running back and a tackle on Friday. The Bears have two picks in the second round (39 and 41) and one in the third round (72).

Conventional wisdom was only half right about the Chicago Bears’ first-round selection in the draft.