Luther Burden
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Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson didn’t hold back on his praise for second-year wide receiver Luther Burden III during the 2026 NFL annual league meeting.
It’s crazy to think that just last offseason, Johnson had to send a stern warning to Burden, saying, “It’s not just the coaching staff, but it’s also your teammates. They gotta see you do it, they gotta know that the guy right and left of them, that they’re gonna do the right thing and they’re going to make the plays when called upon. It’s a shame that he [Luther Burden] got dinged up and missed all that time, cause for a young player, it’s really where you get the most reps and you can get better in a hurry.”
Fast forward to the 2026 offseason, and Burden is regarded around the league as the Bears’ WR1 going into next season, and Bears fans will love hearing what Johnson said regarding Burden.
Bears Fans Are Going to Love What Ben Johnson Said About Luther Burden
Johnson said that Burden, along with Colston Loveland, have been in the weight room all offseason and added more context with Burden.
“These rookies, that didn’t have a full offseason last year. It took us a little bit longer to get them going. Really, the production that we had hoped for. By midseason, the confidence had grown. I know, I certainly felt better about putting them in different spots, running different routes, and I think Caleb [Williams] had developed a rapport by that point. That’s where you started to see things take off for Luther. He’s exactly what we thought we were getting out of the draft last year. This guy is a dynamic playmaker. He’s got some of the best run-after-catch in the game right now. I really believe that. We gotta continue to get the ball in his hands as often as we possibly can. What I grown to love about him is this guy loves football. If you took football away from him, I don’t know what he would want to do with himself. …He’s really, really excited to get a full offseason going and look to develop a bigger route tree.”
Towards the end of the season, Burden emerged as the team’s most dynamic weapon and is on track to become one of the main focal points on offense.
“It was awesome, man,” Rome Odunze said regarding the emergence of guys like Burden, Loveland, and Kyle Monangai on offense. “I mean to see their emergence throughout the season and their more prolific role within the offense as the season goes on. Just seeing their playmaking ability was dope, man.”
Wide Receiver Outlook in Chicago
After averaging 1.9 receptions for 24.4 yards in his first seven games, Burden averaged 4.3 catches for 60.1 yards in his final eight games. Those numbers are expected to continue going up.
However, Odunze is viewed as the top option to take over as the alpha wideout in Chicago, considering DJ Moore is gone, and the fact that he was the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
But with Odunze’s drop issues and disappearance after a hot start to the 2025 season, is it still fair to assume he’ll be the team’s top option on the outside?
Regardless, the Bears are expecting big things from both Burden and Odunze, and Johnson made it clear during the annual league meeting that he wasn’t happy with the offensive staff for “how they didn’t coach WRs to get open enough.” He emphasized that the Bears need to get back to the fundamentals in OTAs on catching the ball to address the drop issues.
There are huge expectations for Burden and the rest of the young weapons on offense to take a huge step forward in 2026 as the Bears move on without Moore and a few other pieces on offense.