Colston Loveland
vs Luther Burden

“TEs Colston Loveland has one catch for three yards through the first two weeks of the season. Caleb Williams ’ hamstring injury hurts all Bears pass-catchers, but Loveland turns into a player that I would advise starting with either Tyson Bagent or Case Keenum at QB. Tucker Kraft ’s return from a torn ACL has been slower than fantasy managers would have hoped for when drafting him, but the increase to 98% of snaps is a sign of encouragement.”

“Loveland may not mean as much to Ben Johnson ’s offense as Trey McBride or Brock Bowers mean to their offenses, limiting his ceiling when comparing him to the other elite TEs.”

“How crazy is it that Colston Loveland has combined for only one catch for three yards in two games? An absolutely insane outcome compared to the hype he was getting coming into the season. We have no choice but to downgrade Loveland moving forward, especially with Caleb Williams out for the foreseeable future.”

“I was always skeptical that Loveland would reach his elite ceiling, and he certainly hasn’t done anything to change that impression. If you can move him for a top-half TE1 price tag, do it.”

“Colston Loveland ‘s 0.05 YPRR is utterly painful considering he’s run the 6th most routes of any TE.”

“Chicago will be without quarterback Caleb Williams for the near future due to his hamstring injury, so the time to “buy low” on a potential bounce-back for Loveland is now.”

“Loveland was always going to need consistent involvement AND reliable quarterback play to become the weekly TE1 fantasy managers drafted him to be. Unfortunately, the next man up for the Bears at QB is Tyson Bagent who hasn’t thrown a TD since 2023. As it stands, the panic alarm is screaming for Loveland.”

“Burden has played 55% of his snaps from the slot, but he has been targeted on only 12.5% of his slot routes (0.75 yards per route), compared with 32% of his routes outside (2.84 yards per route). The Eagles obviously have awesome boundary corners in Quinyon Mitchell and Riq Woolen , so it is hard to play through Burden's splits outside. Philadelphia has allowed 10 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns to slot receivers so far, which likely plays a role in adding Kenny Moore this week and potentially giving them more flexibility to move Cooper DeJean around more like they did last week.”

“Luther Burden steps into a much larger workload in 2026. Last year (including the playoffs), Burden had only five games in which he played at least 53% of the snaps. In those games, he had a 15.5% target share and 61.2 receiving yards per game, which is concerning, but his per-route metrics were outstanding, with 2.30 yards per route run, a 23.6% first-read share, and 0.120 first downs per route run.”

“Luther Burden was just as buzzy as Parker Washington within the fantasy community this summer. Like Washington, Burden did some things late last season that whetted our appetite for a full breakout in 2026.”

“Luther Burden of the Chicago Bears is my pick for league-winner at receiver. With DJ Moore now in Buffalo, Burden steps into a much larger role alongside Rome Odunze and should command a significant target share in an improving Bears offense.”

“Shifting Burden into this alpha role makes perfect sense. Burden is an elite YAC monster, and Ben Johnson would use him as an offensive weapon all over the formation. In a record-breaking year, Burden’s ceiling isn’t just a low-end WR1 – it is an overall top-5 standard/PPR finish fueled by manufactured touches and explosive chunk plays.”

“The hype around Burden has gotten out of control. He averaged fewer PPR fantasy points per game than Theo Wease Jr. last season (8.6 vs. 8.5).”

“Burden averaged 13.9 YPC, which is high when considering his low aDOT. That's attributable to the fact that Burden was a YAC machine in 2025, averaging 7.1 YAC per reception, which ranked 3rd in the NFL among WRs.”

“Burden finished 2025 with a paltry 12.8% target share on the season. This number obviously grew throughout the season, as his snap share increased, but that's still an uninspiring number. Better, though, were his Team Reception % (16%), Team Receiving Yards % (19%), and team WR Points % (26.9%), which shows how efficient Burden was when targeted.”