From looking at offseason wide receiver rankings around the league, it would seem like Caleb Williams is going to have to throw the ball and catch it himself this year.
While Bears wide receivers have been overlooked or largely disrespected during rankings season, with the occasional exception of Luther Burden III, the same can't be said about second-year tight end Colston Loveland. It is the tight end position where the Bears offense will focus or revolve around, and should after he set an NFL rookie tight end record for total postseason receiving yards at 193.
Loveland has been ranked fifth among tight ends by Pro Football Focus, seventh among an ESPN panel of executives, scouts and coaches, and sixth according to SI.com. In most rankings, they have him below Tucker Kraft even though Kraft has never gone over 50 receptions and Loveland did this in his rookie year without a prior offseason of work.
Their faulty reasoning is best described by ESPN's ranking article which said Kraft was "pacing for 1,000-plus yards and 10-touchdowns before going down in Week 9 with an ACL tear in his right knee." This is a rather flimsy basis for a ranking. Rome Odunze was tracking for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns until he ran into injury difficulties, too, then wound up with lower totals and the label "disappointing." But no one is ranking him high among wide receivers, so how does Kraft rate so high?
