If we were to rank NFL offenses based on how intriguing they are in fantasy football heading into the 2025 season, the Chicago Bears would be high on the list. Head coach Ben Johnson is bringing his creativity and play-calling acumen over from Detroit, and everyone is in line to be elevated.
As draft season winds down for this year, the most-drafted Bears players are easy to tab. Caleb Williams, D'Andre Swift, Rome Odunze, DJ Moore and Colston Loveland are rostered in basically every league, with a dash of Kyle Monangai or Roschon Johnson in deep leagues.
When a fantasy football draft is over, it's easy to think your work is done until Week 1 comes and inevitably changes the equation. But that is not the case, with potential waiver wire adds emerging after the draft dust settles.
With that in mind, Alex Kay of Bleacher Report has gone position-by-position with some recommended waiver wire stashes to consider heading into Week 1.
The general cutoff for a waiver wire add in any week is being available in at least 50 percent of leagues, give or take a little, and Kay applied it here as he cited post-draft availability in Yahoo! leagues.
Luther Burden named top fantasy waiver wire stash ahead of Week 1
A deep pecking order for opportunities in the Bears' offense makes it easy to set aside rookie wide receiver Luther Burden. If he's being drafted in fantasy leagues at all, it's very late with the zero-risk hope it could pay off big during the season.
Kay put Burden, rostered in 26 percent of Yahoo! leagues at the time of his writing, on his list of wide receiver waiver wire stashes heading into Week 1.
"Chicago's Week 1 clash with the Vikings will reveal much about head coach Ben Johnson's new-look offense."
"One of the biggest mysteries going into the new season is Burden, a second-round pick who will have to compete with the likes of D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and the team's two pass-catching tight ends for targets."
"If Burden can still find a way to carve out a meaningful role and get at least a few targets each week, he has more than enough talent to make the most of them and put up huge fantasy numbers. This is the ultimate boom-or-bust stash, one that could end up paying dividends for managers who rolled the dice."
As of the morning of Tuesday, September 2, Burden's ownership in Yahoo! leagues has dropped a notch to 25 percent. As of this writing, he is also rostered in just 19 percent of ESPN leagues.
Read more: Place on dubious list ramps up pressure on two veteran Bears defenders in 2025
As Kay suggested, the Bears' offense has some mystery to it until we see what it looks like in a meaningful game. For fantasy managers who are looking to tweak who they're stashing on their bench before Week 1, Burden has as much upside as anyone at any position.