Luther Burden III spent the final year of his college football career as a projected first-round NFL Draft pick. Even after his production tumbled in his final season at Missouri, the 2023 All-American wide receiver still figured to be a Day 1 selection. Instead, Burden slipped out of the first round and the Chicago Bears scooped him up with the No. 39 overall pick. The underwhelming result did not sit well with Burden, he said after the draft.
Four wide receivers flew off the board before Burden. Tetairoa McMillan, Emeka Egbuka and Matthew Golden each heard their names called in the first round, while Jayden Higgins preceded the former SEC standout in the second round. In turn, Burden had a message for the teams that looked elsewhere for a rookie pass-catcher.
“That’s staying with me forever,” Burden said. “Everybody who passed up on me gotta pay.”
Although his draft position came as a disappointment, Burden has a chance to become one of the faces of an exciting, young Bears offensive core. He links up with second-year quarterback Caleb Williams as a potential catalyst for a unit that ranked 31st in the NFL last season in passing yards.
“I feel like he’s a great quarterback,” Burden said last month of Williams. “I feel like great quarterbacks need great receivers. So, perfect fit.”
The Bears boast a crowded receiving corps with DJ Moore and Rome Odunze back for the 2025 season. Burden will contend with that tandem for targets in a new system, which first-year coach Ben Johnson brings with him from the Detroit Lions. The former offensive coordinator orchestrated the highest-scoring unit in the NFL last season and unleashed an explosive aerial attack, which torched defenses for just shy of 4,500 passing yards.
Burden was an immediate impact addition to the Missouri roster in 2022 after he moved up to college as a five-star recruit from the high school ranks. It was not until the following season, though, that the St. Louis native became a household name in the SEC. Burden and breakthrough signal-caller Brady Cook teamed up for a tremendous campaign and together connected 86 times for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns.
That season placed Burden in the top 10 nationally in receiving and top five in the SEC for a number of offensive categories. He racked up All-American honors and was a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist.
Burden entered 2024 as one of the top returning players in college football, but he and the rest of the Missouri offense sustained a setback. His numbers diminished to a modest yet still considerably productive 61 receptions, 676 yards and six touchdowns. Still, Burden landed on the All-SEC first team and will now try to carve out a role for himself in Chicago.