Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III has a big opportunity entering the second year of his NFL career to take over a larger role in the team's offense. The former second-round pick was a rotational player during his rookie season, playing only 40% of the team's snaps as the Bears used D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and at times even Olamide Zaccheaus ahead of him. Now, though, Moore has been traded to Buffalo and Zaccheaus has signed with Atlanta, leaving Burden as one of the clear-cut top two receivers heading into the 2026 season.
"Somebody else in the room's got to step up when your number is called," Burden said, via The Chicago Tribune. "D.J. was great for us, great leader for us, great leader for the room. So somebody's got to step up."
Bears head coach Ben Johnson appears to have high hopes that Burden will be that guy.
"I'm buying Luther Burden stock right now," Johnson said. "Just how he's approached his offseason, it's been electric."
Bears wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El echoed those sentiments. "He just kept getting better and kept getting better," Randle El said.
Burden caught 47 passes for 652 yards and two scores as a rookie, putting together a solid if relatively unspectacular debut season. However, a look at some numbers that dig beneath the surface paints a rosier picture -- one that shows why the Bears' coaches have such a strong belief that he can step up in Year 2.
Burden averaged 2.71 yards per route run, for example, a figure that ranked third-best out of the 152 wide receivers who ran at least 100 routes. The small sample size of 241 routes obviously played a role in Burden's remarkable per-route efficiency, but the fact that he came into the league as a presumed yards-after-catch threat and then averaged 7.2 YAC per reception (fifth-best among the same group of players) as a rookie is a good sign that he can maintain a high level of efficiency in the future.
"When we drafted him, we saw an explosive athlete who was really dangerous with the ball in his hands," Johnson said. "The question was, 'How can we get it in his hands?' The easy things to do are screens or short throws, but there's a lot more to his game that we've worked to unlock and he's been really receptive to how we can get that done."
Burden's average target came just 7.67 yards downfield during his rookie season, per Tru Media, which ranked 132nd out of that aforementioned group of 153 receivers. So he was targeted in the short areas of the field more often than anywhere else. Despite that, though, he was able to record a successful reception (defined as one that produced positive expected points added) on 58.3% of his plays, and an explosive gain (15-plus yards) on 26.7% of them, rates which ranked 21st and 13th, respectively, among that group of players. That's how dangerous he is with the ball in his hands -- he can make something out of nothing with relative ease.
The next step is becoming even more of a threat on intermediate and deep throws. Burden actually caught 9 of 12 passes thrown his way on plays where he was at least 15 yards downfield, per Tru Media, racking up 309 yards (almost half of his yardage total for the season) and both of his scores on those throws. Still, the 12 targets accounted for only 20% of his season total, and a 65-yard touchdown on a broken play somewhat skews the efficiency on those throws. (His efficiency would still be quite good without that play, to be clear.)
Burden is on the smaller side at just 6-feet tall, but he's 210 pounds and has electric speed and shiftiness. He's walking into a situation with a significant opportunity and a coaching staff that apparently believes he is set to break out. If he can tap into his skill set to become anywhere close to the same type of consistent downfield threat that he is in the shorter areas of the field, he could be in for a big season.
CBS Sports is projecting 72 catches for 1,007 yards and 6 TDs in 2026 for Burden and CBS Sports Fantasy Football analyst Jamey Eisenberg is expecting big things from the WR.
