Colston Loveland over Tyler Warren? Yes, because Ben Johnson knows what he wants

Apparently, there was only room for one Warren at Halas Hall.

As team president Kevin Warren tries (and tries) to do his job and finalize the team’s future stadium plans, former Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, the guy you thought was coming here, will be plying his trade for the Indianapolis Colts instead of the Chicago Bears.

There goes your perfect mock draft.

Bears GM Ryan Poles and the Bears passed up on that Warren to take a different tight end in Michigan’s Colston Loveland with the No. 10 pick Thursday night. Warren went four picks later.

Why Loveland over Warren? Well, if you’re wondering who’s really in charge at Halas Hall — of the stuff that truly matters — the answer is Ben Johnson. But you probably already knew that. You don’t pay a head coach $13 million a year to just give his opinion and be a “yes, boss” kind of guy.

Unlike his predecessors, Johnson came in with a big reputation and a personality to match. And he knows what he wants. In the video the Bears posted, a grinning Johnson told Loveland, “We’re cooking with hot grease now, man.”

“Ben was pushing for a lot of guys,” Bears senior director of player personnel Jeff King said with a grin. “Outside of the tight end specific, it didn’t come down to that. We stacked a bunch of players, he had opinions, obviously he had a high opinion of Colston as well, so we felt good about a couple of guys, ’cause you have to there, but Colston ended up being the best pick for us.”

You might not be wowed by Loveland, but it’s best to look at this pick through the lens that this is a guy Johnson liked for his offense.

All the late predraft smoke focused on the Bears either taking Warren at 10 or trading up for Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. The opportunity to get Jeanty, who could’ve been the Chicago version of Jahmyr Gibbs, was seemingly there when Cleveland traded back from No. 2 to 5, but the Browns used their pick on Loveland’s teammate at Michigan, defensive tackle Mason Graham. The Las Vegas Raiders then selected Jeanty at No. 6.

So instead of taking another Gibbs, Poles selected another Sam LaPorta in Loveland.

Bears fans should be thrilled that Poles didn’t trade up. The team still has picks 39 and 41 in the second round — presumably a running back and some type of lineman — and 72 in the third, and Poles still has his second-round pick next year that he can trade for a veteran at the deadline, as is his custom. In a perfect world, I would’ve traded down from 10 to add more picks.

Loveland said when he met with Johnson at Michigan’s pro day, the two chatted about LaPorta, who had 146 catches for 1,615 yards and 17 touchdowns in two seasons in Detroit, and according to Loveland, Johnson said: “Yeah, you remind me a lot of him. We obviously do a lot of things with LaPorta. I can see you doing a lot of those things as well.”

Loveland’s highlight reel shows what he can do in the open field.

Loveland is 6-foot-6, 248 pounds and caught 117 passes for 1,466 yards and 11 touchdowns in three seasons in Ann Arbor. He’s coming off January shoulder surgery but said he’ll be ready for training camp.

Another tight end I liked was Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who had those numbers last season, as a later-round tight end. In the first round, I thought the Bears should focus on offensive line — you can never have enough — to protect Caleb Williams, but my pick of Texas lineman Kelvin Banks Jr. went one pick earlier to New Orleans.

Loveland was, of course, fired up about coming to Chicago. He praised Williams, but the guy he sounded most excited about is his new coach.

“Before I even met (Johnson), just watching Detroit last year, the things they were doing — man, really smart,” Loveland said in a call with Bears reporters. “Knows what he’s doing. Knows football. Finally being able to talk with him and meet with him and pick his brain, I’m the No. 1 fan of that guy, for sure. He’s legit. He’s a stud.”

How often do you have a draft pick calling his new coach a stud? I’m guessing Kyler Gordon wasn’t glued to his TV watching Matt Eberflus’ defense in Indianapolis in 2021. But that’s the Ben Johnson difference.

Usually, draft picks do the whole song and dance about Chicago’s rich tradition of football, but Johnson is the star of the show now, not just the memories of Walter Payton, Dick Butkus and Brian Urlacher. No offense to the Monsters of the Midway, but it’s a refreshing change.

And don’t worry, Super Fans, the Bears’ current star tight end/suburban Chicago native Cole Kmet, a two-time winner of the media’s good guy award, isn’t going anywhere. He and Loveland fit together in Johnson’s offense as they play different versions of the position. (This is where I could throw in jargon about “X” and “Y” tight ends to try and sound smarter.)

Williams needs all the help he can get. As smart as Johnson is, it’s the players who make the offense, not vice versa.

“Yeah, again, I think you’re able to create mismatches whether it be in the run and the pass,” King said. “You’re not as predictable, going way back, the more you can create balance both in terms of personnel (and) run-pass ratio, that’s only going to help the quarterback. And you know, I think, again, the more that we can be unpredictable in the way that we use those guys, the better that it’s going to be for everybody.”

Loveland isn’t a big name in Chicago, and he doesn’t have to be. The Bears have their quarterback of the future. They have their coach. And now they’re building a team around them.