This past spring, the Bears took a shot on not one, but two pass catchers in this class – both of them being my highest ranked (pre-draft) at their positions: wide receiver and tight end. With the hype and draft capital Colston Loveland got along with the surrounding pieces on offense already, many have overlooked Chicago’s second-round pick in the NFL Draft, Luther Burden III.
There has been a ton of negative chatter this offseason about Burden’s character and ability to stay on the field. Those rumors settled down today as the Missouri standout has been reported to have put on impressive performances the past few days at training camp.
Luther Burden III came out of East St. Louis High School as the number one wide receiver in his class (2022) and fourth ranked player overall nationally. As the MaxPreps Player of the Year, he was a consensus five-star recruit.
The young receiver joined Missouri as the Tigers’ highest rated WR prospect ever. He lived up to the hype, becoming the first player since 2008 to record two receiving TDs, two rushing TDs, and a punt-return TD within the same season – as an 18-year-old freshman nonetheless.
The only other Power-5 wide receiver recruits since 2008 that had a higher overall rank than Burden (via Rivals) were Jeremiah Smith (1) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (3). Thus, Burden was ranked higher overall than the likes of Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, George Pickens, Jaylen Waddle, Jerry Jeudy, Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley, and Stefon Diggs – plus has the college production to back it up.
Since 1970, there have been six SEC wide receivers to post 1,200-plus receiving yards in a season before their junior years:
- Alshon Jeffery (2010)
- Mike Evans (2013)
- A.J. Brown (2017)
- Jerry Jeudy (2018)
- Ja’Marr Chase (2019)
- Luther Burden III (2023)
In regards to that absurd 2023 season, Luther posted 1,212 receiving yards on 86 receptions with 9 touchdowns in 13 games (five consecutive games of 100-plus receiving yards), for an elite 3.20 receiving yards per team pass attempt – a 96th percentile sophomore-year campaign (per @FF_MarvinE). This was no small feat, as Missouri’s strength of schedule ranked 8th (via TeamRankings) in Burden’s electric sophomore season.
For perspective – none of Travis Hunter, Emeka Egbuka, or Matthew Golden surpassed the 3.00 mark in any season of their careers and Tetairoa McMillan just barely achieved that in his final season at Arizona with 3.01 receiving yards per team pass attempt in 2024 versus a 61st ranked strength of schedule in the nation. Neither McMillan’s Arizona or Hunter’s Colorado had a strength of schedule within the top-25 the past two seasons, further emphasizing just how impressive Burden’s 2023 season was.
Golden’s best season came in 2024 when he had 1.83 receiving yards per team pass attempt, earning himself first-round draft capital. It feels like the entire world is against Burden after his (more-so Missouri’s) regression this past season and NFL Draft “slide”, yet he was just 0.01 receiving yards per team pass attempt shy of tying Golden’s career best YPTPA number in 2024 (1.83) despite Missouri’s offensive woes.
Luther Burden III is one of just four SEC wide receivers to declare early for the draft after putting up more than 90 total EPA and 0.90 EPA per play as a true-sophomore. Burden also tied for first amongst this group in EPA per team pass attempt (0.25).
- A.J. Brown (2017)
- Ja’Marr Chase (2019)
- Malik Nabers (2022)
- Luther Burden III (2023)
Marvin Harrison Jr. won the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best wide receiver after putting up 1,211 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in his final collegiate season. Oddly enough, it was Burden who had a higher receiving grade (91.6 RECV, 3rd amongst WRs), more yards after the catch (718, 2nd amongst WRs), more yards per route run (3.50, 7th amongst WRs), and a lower drop rate than Harrison Jr. (89.6 RECV, 427 YAC, 3.44 YPRR, 8.2 DRP%) did – all while being over a year younger.
“MHJ” was well known for using his stature (6’4) to make contested catches – he caught 13 contested catches on 30 contested targets in 2023. Meanwhile, Burden caught the same amount of contested catches (13) despite having seven less contested targets (23) than Marvin did.
Luther Burden ended up leading the entire 2025 wide receiver class in career percentage of team receiving touchdowns when on the field with 58 percent. Travis Hunter achieved a career percentage of 39 percent, while Tetairoa McMillan and Emeka Egbuka were both below 35 percent – a full 20 percent-plus lower than Burden.
Expanding on that, Burden holds three out of the top-ten (plus two out of the top-five) single-season rates for receiving touchdowns when on the field amongst all 2025 rookie pass catchers’ collegiate careers:
- 2022 – 60 percent
- 2023 – 53 percent
- 2024 – 67 percent
Hunter and McMillan’s best rates for receiving touchdowns when on the field (44 percent) came in their final collegiate seasons, which still fell 9 percent short of matching Burden’s worst season for this metric.
In terms of percentage of team receiving yards when on the field, Burden’s single-season rates of 40 percent in 2024 and 42 percent in 2023 both ranked in the top-ten amongst all pass catchers (for their careers) in this class.
Furthermore, Burden produced the most missed tackles forced per reception (0.34) in his career amongst all wide receivers in this class and ranked second with 7.3 yards after the catch per reception. On 86 receptions in 2023, Burden forced 20 missed tackles, tying for seventh amongst all Power-5 wide receivers. Despite Missouri’s regression on offense in 2024, Luther still managed to force 30 missed tackles on just 61 receptions versus a top-25 ranked strength of schedule, which ranked first amongst all P5 wide receivers – averaging an absurd two-plus missed tackles forced per reception.
Despite his shorter stature – Burden’s solid 206 pound build allows him to power through contact, slip by defenders, and move with the presence of a much larger player. That career 0.34 missed tackles forced per reception actually ranks second amongst all power conference wide receivers (min. 175 receptions) over the last decade. Burden was just ahead of a fellow early-declare SEC standout, Malik Nabers, who posted 0.31 missed tackles forced per reception.
Similarities between Luther Burden III and Deebo Samuel have provoked many to make the comparison, but even Deebo only had 13 missed tackles forced through three seasons at South Carolina – his best season was not until his fourth and final year. Burden forced as many missed tackles as a freshman in the SEC (13) as Deebo did in his first three seasons as a Gamecock.
Burden has special after the catch abilities – his 7.3 yards after the catch per reception lead all Round 1-2 wide receivers the last two seasons. Trailing Luther Burden in yards after the catch per reception was Xavier Worthy (7.2), Malik Nabers (6.6), Ladd McConkey (6.6), Emeka Egbuka (6.6), Tre Harris (6.4), Matthew Golden (5.6), Tetairoa McMillan (5.5), Brian Thomas Jr. (5.3), Rome Odunze (5.2), and Marvin Harrison Jr. (5.1). Although Burden has been called a “slot merchant”, only six percent more of his production came out of the slot than Nabers’ (57 percent) did as an LSU Tiger.
Over the course of his career at Missouri, Burden was dominant – accounting for 36.5% of the Tigers’ team receiving yards and touchdowns, good for a 74th percentile college dominator rating. He also boasted a 26.9% college target share (80th percentile), and broke out at the young age of 18.7 years old (94th percentile).
Burden is a scheme-flexible player who thrives as a dynamic, position-less threat – flashing the ability to win outside while also dominating out of the slot. He has no problem tracking the deep ball effortlessly without breaking his stride or decelerating.
He displays immediate separation off the line of scrimmage using elite short-area quickness and a sudden first step that consistently shakes defenders in open space.
Not to mention, he is certainly a threat as a runner – showcased by his 217 rushing yards on 32 attempts (6.8 YPA) with 4 rushing touchdowns in college. He combines elite contact balance with an extremely competitive mentality to bring some serious juice out of the backfield.
Most of the NFL community are speculative of Burden’s final season at Missouri. Versus UMass, Burden suffered a shoulder injury – followed by leaving the game versus Buffalo with an undisclosed illness. The more prevalent factor here is the fact Missouri’s passing yard numbers fell from 3,671 in 2023 to 2,535 in 2024. Starting quarterback, Brady Cook, also took a significant step back in production as well – sliding from 34th in passing grade in 2023 all the way to 93rd in 2024.
Because of Missouri’s regressions as a whole this past season, the Chicago Bears were able to get a steal on a first-round talent like Luther Burden III in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. It seems to be forgotten that Burden III was once considered the best player in this class before Missouri’s offense affected his draft stock this past season.
I imagine new head coach Ben Johnson is ecstatic about his new wide receiver. Johnson is specifically known for building his offenses around his key players’ strengths – which should bode well for a Swiss-army knife like Burden. I believe Coach Johnson will use him similarly to how he schemed up Amon-Ra St. Brown during his tenure with the Detroit Lions.
Considering I am not too fond of Rome Odunze and D.J. Moore will be 32 years old when Burden’s rookie contract is up, I do believe there is room for him to grow within the Bears wide receiver room. Pre-draft, I personally ranked Luther Burden III as my WR1 of the 2025 NFL Draft Class. My post-draft wide receiver rankings have changed ever-so slightly, but no receiver will move in or out of my top-two, or even my top-six.
The landing spot and competition in the locker room was obviously enough for me to move Burden down a single spot in my rankings below Tetairoa McMillan, who I am also very high on. I have no issue ranking them as WR1A — WR1B and would not be surprised one bit if Burden ended up having the better career. I am rooting for McMillan’s success as well, but from my perspective, Burden has some of the highest upside in this class.
