Fantasy Football Impact: Luther Burden III and Kyle Monangai Injury Updates

The Chicago Bears have had a couple of important offensive players deal with injuries in the offseason: RB Kyle Monangai and WR Luther Burden II. More has recently come out regarding how they are progressing with their injuries as their season opener against the Carolina Panthers gets closer.

Luther Burden III

Burden III back in early August suffered a groin injury. Fast forward to now, there seems to be no concern, and he should be ready to go in Week 1. He did not practice on Monday, Aug.31, but he is back and practicing on Tuesday, Sep. 1. With his injury appearing to be non-serious, fantasy managers should feel comfortable drafting him at his current ADP.

Burden III in PPR formats in ESPN leagues; current ADP is WR27.

He is an intriguing WR fantasy prospect coming off a season where he had a fairly strong close, logging 80 or more receiving yards in two of his last three regular-season games. This included his best game of the year against the San Francisco 49ers, where he had eight receptions for 138 receiving yards and a TD.

Fantasy managers should be careful, because Bears WR Rome Odunze could have a bigger impact than people think in 2026. Through the first four games of 2025, he was WR3 in PPR fantasy formats. His production faded as the season went on, as he began to deal with lingering injuries. Now having a whole offseason to recover, Odunze has all the potential to remain the Bears' WR1 over Burden III.

Kyle Monangai

Monangai, who was selected in the seventh round in the 2025 NFL Draft, wildly outplayed expectations. Last season, he rushed for 783 yards and had five TDs. He had many standout performances in fantasy last season, including a Week 9 outing against the Cincinnati Bengals, where he had 26 rushes for 176 yards and three receptions for 22 yards. That week, in PPR fantasy formats, Monagai was RB3.

With games like that and Monagai ‘s 2025 season as a whole, many people think he could garner a bigger role in 2026, which makes his fantasy outlook even more intriguing. However, he has hit a bit of a roadblock in achieving a potential fantasy breakout due to an injury.

During a practice on Aug. 16, Mongai hyper-extended his right knee. Bears beat writer for 247 Sports, Zack Pearson, recently reported that Monangai remains week-to-week.

If he is not able to play in Week 1 and so on, the bulk of the RB duties should be placed on Chicago’s RB1 D’Andre Swift. He has looked great in training camp, with Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson going so far as to say the following. “It's the best I've seen him this time of year," Johnson said. "You look back at a year ago, he was very explosive, and yet it takes a little while to gel between him and the offensive line. I think he's accelerating his vision here at this point.”

Fantasy managers should be cautious in drafting Monangai. If Swift has a hot start to the 2026 season and Monangai misses time, when Monangai returns, he may have a reduced role compared to the one he would have if he entered the regular season healthy. Swift in ESPN PPR fantasy leagues has a current ADP of RB20. Monangai has an ADP of RB36.

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