If not for a down final season at Missouri, wide receiver Luther Burden might've been a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears gladly snagged him early in the second round, but an offseason injury slowed the star of his rookie season.
It really took too long for Burden to play more as a rookie. He didn't crack a 50 percent share of the offensive snaps in a game until Week 12. Ben Johnson favored Olamide Zaccheaus until he could no longer do so, and Burden had at least six targets in six of seven games from Week 13 through the Divisional Round.
With Zaccheaus gone in free agency and DJ Moore traded to the Buffalo Bills, the runway has been cleared for Burden. Everywhere you look, including from no less an authority than Bears' head coach Ben Johnson, there's buy-in for a full-on Year 2 breakout.
Luther Burden gets odd-looking (but explanable) ranking among best young WRs in the NFL
Matt Harmon of Yahoo! has offered his top-15 wide receivers who are 25 years old or younger heading into the 2026 season. A fantasy football tilt might be expected, but Harmon got ahead of that by noting it's not meant as that kind of ranking.
Harmon is clearly all-in on Bears' wide receiver Rome Odunze, ranking him No. 8 among that age group of wide receivers. Burden comes in at No. 14, but Harmon does not mean to discount him in the way that spot in the ranking could be seen.
"Luther Burden III came on strong at the end of his rookie season after an understandably slow start. He is outright deadly with the ball in his hands and I believe he could be considered one of the four or five best run-after-catch receivers in the game by the end of this season. People misunderstand Burden's game, trying to paint him as a slot when he profiles as much more of a Z-receiver who can win at all levels."
Harmon's cited comps for Burden, as a draft prospect (the now-departed Moore) and based on his rookie season using "Reception Perception" data (Robert Woods-2020), aren't all that inspiring. But Moore never seemed to fit Johnson's offense all that well, whatever the specific reasons, while Burden fits the bill in every required way.
"He fits the system better (than Moore did) and got the exact type of hard coaching he needed from Ben Johnson and Co.", Harmon wrote. "Burden has a solid feel for zone but is best expressed as a separator when snapping off routes against man coverage in the intermediate area. While I'm placing a big bet on Rome Odunze and feel great about his future, that does not for one second mean I need to be down on Burden as a player. These two guys complement each other and bring unique skill sets to the table. The Bears offense is simply going to cook in 2026 and beyond.
Read more: Jaylon Johnson sends clear message about how he personally views 2026 season
It's odd to see Burden not land in the top 10 in a ranking of the top young wide receivers in the NFL entering this season. But Harmon's full analysis proves what Bears fans, his coaches, and his teammates already know: the sky is the limit for the second-year man, and last season's small sample of production was only the start.
Add us as a preferred source on Google