Bear Digest

No holding back by Ben Johnson about what Luther Burden III lost

Bears coach Ben Johnson sees the end of OTAs and minicamp as a real setback for his young wide receiver.
Gene Chamberlain|
Luther Burden III goes through stretching at Bears rookie camp. It was the last time the second-round pick practiced.
Luther Burden III goes through stretching at Bears rookie camp. It was the last time the second-round pick practiced. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

A time for valuable learning on the field passed for Luther Burden III, just like it did for Colston Loveland and for any other player who missed time during Bears offseason work.

Burden, their second-round pick from Missouri, has a chance to be an explosive player and is expected to be back after a soft tissue injury when training camp begins.

However, coach Ben Johnson couldn't downplay the missed opportunity he had to put himself in a much better position to compete once practices begin by being out since the end of rookie camp in early May.

"He misses a lot," Johnson said. "Any time you're not out there, if you're in the training room when the rest of the guys are practicing, you're losing valuable time; valuable time with your coaches, valuable reps with your teammates, the ability to build the trust that we're talking about.

"It's not just the coaching staff having trust in you, doing the right thing over and over, but it's also your teammates. They have to be out there. They have to see you do it. They have to know that the guy to the right and the left of them are going to do the right things, and they're going to make the plays when called upon."

Like the other second-round draft picks in the NFL selected after No. 34 overall, Burden is unsigned. So there's no guarantee now that he's in camp at the start even if he is healthy.

The difference between Burden's absence and Loveland's is the Bears expected Loveland's absence because he had surgery well in advance of being drafted. 

The Bears had a number of players who missed big chunks of the offseason work on the field, like T.J. Edwards, Jaylon Johnson, Terell Smith and Dayo Odeyingbo. They're experienced and know what to expect, but also are still learning the defense of Dennis Allen.

Younger or less experienced players missing time is a bigger problem, and while Burden was away veteran slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus definitely made in-roads toward being a starter by gaining a nice connection with quarterback Caleb Williams.

OTAs represented real opportunity—now lost—to figure things out.

"It's for everybody," Johnson said. "It's a shame that he got dinged up and missed all that time, because for a young player, it's really where you get the most reps and you can get better in a hurry that way.

"That's really for every player on this team."

For Burden, he'll simply need to be a faster learner and take advantage of every play in training camp when the rookies report in July.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.