When thinking about the Chicago Bears in fantasy football terms for 2025, there are the obvious headliners: Quarterback Caleb Williams, wide receiver Rome Odunze, running back D'Andre Swift, wide receiver DJ Moore, and even tight end Colston Loveland.
Bears' head coach Ben Johnson's guided offenses in Detroit that were bountiful for fantasy managers over the last three years, and he has more raw talent at his disposal in Chicago.
The term "league winner" is often thrown around too loosely by fantasy football analysts. During draft season, "(insert name) is a potential league winner" or at season's end, "(insert name) was a league winner." Sometimes, it absolutely applies.
ESPN analyst predicts sneaky fantasy league winner on Bears' roster
As part of ESPN.com's team previews heading into the season, analyst Matt Bowen had a "how to win your fantasy league" prediction spotlighting a player for each squad.
For the Bears, Bowen tabbed rookie wide receiver Luther Burden.
"A rookie with upper-tier catch-and-run traits, Burden can be schemed up in Johnson's offense. In addition to running multilevel routes from the slot and perimeter, Burden can produce on manufactured touches. He will have to compete for targets with Moore, Odunze and Loveland, but Burden has the playmaking talent to post breakout weeks."
As Bowen mentioned, Burden is down the pecking order for opportunities in the Bears' offense. A lot of missed time during OTAs put him behind the curve, and Olamide Zaccheaus has emerged as a trusted target for Williams.
Back in June, Matt Waldman of Football Guys boldly predicted Burden will finish as a top-20 fantasy wide receiver this year (full PPR scoring). Waldman also noted it won't take much of a draft investment to find out if the Bears' rookie can pay off that prediction. That has held up, with an ADP in the WR5 range and outside the top-150 overall picks as draft season winds down. I recently took Burden at pick No. 200 (13th round) in a 16-team league (full PPR).
Bowen pointed out that Burden is likely to struggle with week-to-week consistency, suggesting that he may "post breakout weeks." But for a draft investment that clearly puts him on your bench to start out, there's no risk in finding out if he can become more as the season goes on.
Read more: Bears have an emerging leader few people could've truly seen coming
"Potential league winner" is an aggressive label to apply to Burden, but there is a scenario where he becomes very useful to fantasy managers before his rookie season is done.