Bear Digest

Bears second-rounder Luther Burden III stunned by drop from Round 1

Missouri wide receiver and former East St. Louis player expected to go in Round 1 and as a result had to clear his head with a late-night workout.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears second-round receiver Luther Burden III was a bit miffed to be a second-rounded pick but excited to be playing with Caleb Williams.
Bears second-round receiver Luther Burden III was a bit miffed to be a second-rounded pick but excited to be playing with Caleb Williams. | Butch Dill-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

If Bears fans were confused about Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III as their first pick in Round 2 at No. 39, imagine how Burden himself felt.

He wasn't too excited about it, not necessarily being in Chicago but being a second-round pick, and he said as much.

The former East St. Louis player freely admitted he expected to be drafted in the first round Thursday night, and at 12:52 a.m. Friday he felt the need to change his focus by working out at the school facility. He had posted this on Instagram.

"Clear my head pretty much," he explained. "The field is an escape for me. It always has been.

"I felt like I needed to hit the field last night to clear my head for today."

The Bears' second-round pick might have been even a bigger head scratcher than the 10th overall pick, until you take into account the two reasons they picked Burden after they had taken tight end Colston Loveland on Day 1.

One reason would be Ben Johnson, the other Caleb Williams.

More weapons for Caleb Williams and the Bears now have a possible new version of Amon-Ra St. Brown for Johnson's offense.

Burden is a 6-foot, 202-pounder who played slot or outside receiver and had a 40-yard time at the combine of 4.42 seconds, the same time DJ Moore ran at the event.

Burden did have a much better 2023 season, when he had 86 receptions for 1,212 yards, averaging 14.1 yards per reception. He had only 61 catches for 676 yards last year but the Missouri passing game struggled overall last year as quarterback Brady Cook had ankle and hand/wrist injury issues.

“I think the goal at the end of the day is get good football players in here," director of college scouting Breck Ackley said. "The creativity on offense that this is gonna allow, like, this is one of those things where when you add a guy with his skillset, you find a way he competes. And what he does is he opens things up for everybody else."

Ackley doesn't think they have exhausted the supply footballs to go around.

"Now, they have to worry about more things at the end of the day," he said. "So yes, one ball, one player getting the ball at all times. But I think what you’ve seen in the league, really, the more weapons are on the field, it changes the way the defense plays you. That’s the mindset now of coach Johnson —the creativity, what it allows everybody to do  and the multiplicity it gives you. That’s the mindset we had in adding a player.”

Burden himself was only slightly more clear about how the Bears plan to use him than he was excited about being a second-round pick.

"I haven’t really met with them," Burden said. "This is kind of a new journey.”

At least he was aware of DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Loveland and Cole Kmet.

“I’m pretty much surrounded by some great wide receivers already, so I’ll be able to take some attention off them when they get doubled or whatever," he said. "So I feel like I fit perfect in their offense.”

"Perfect" probably needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

At least one thing really did excite him and that was getting the chance to play with Caleb Williams, finally, he said.

At one point prior to 2022, he was considering going to Oklahoma and Williams was their quarterback that season. Williams only played at Oklahoma one year and Burden wound up at Missouri.

"I definitely, not keep in touch but I definitely follow him," Burden said. "We follow each other on social media and stuff and I watched a lot of his games. He was the No. 1 pick. He's been nice since I've known him. So. I am definitely a big fan of him. Excited to get to work with him."

Everything else, he can be excited about once he gets to Chicago, except being a second-round pick.

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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.