LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Luther Burden III wasn't ready to call it a night. The former Missouri wide receiver had to channel his frustration and disappointment to clear his mind. For weeks, the teams he had visited during the lead-up to the 2025 NFL draft told him they believed he was worthy of a first-round pick.
The first night of the draft on April 24 proved otherwise, and the former five-star recruit displayed his dissatisfaction outwardly. Every hour that ticked off the clock enlarged the chip on Burden's shoulder over being passed over where he thought he should have been drafted.
Second-guessing his accomplishments as a first-team All-SEC selection in back-to-back years would have been a fruitless exercise. Burden was confident where he stood among the top receivers in the draft -- including the five taken before him -- despite a drop-off in his production during his junior season.
Instead, he went to work.
At 12:52 a.m. on April 25, Burden walked off the practice field at Missouri's Stephens Indoor Facility. A late-night workout catching balls from a passing machine was exactly what he needed to center himself and rid any doubt, but the feeling of disrespect was one he'd store away for later.
"No, that's staying with me forever," Burden said. "Everybody who passed up on me gotta pay."
Burden carried that mindset to his new NFL home after the Chicago Bears drafted him with the 39th pick in the second round. The selection came as a bit of a surprise to the wide receiver, who said he hadn't interacted much with the Bears during the predraft process.
Before drafting Burden, Chicago selected Michigan tight end Colston Loveland with the 10th pick, marking the first time in the common draft era (since 1967) that the team drafted two pass catchers with its first two picks.
Bears coach Ben Johnson certainly didn't mind the extra offensive assets. Burden's ability after the catch (his 1,080 yards are the fifth most in FBS since 2023) jumped off the page and felt like a perfect fit for Johnson's offense. Integrating a receiver whom he deemed "a playmaker waiting to happen" was a dream for the first-year head coach.
"A dangerous player, a weapon, call him what you want, but I see big things in his future," Johnson said.
Not long after the Bears made it official, Johnson received a text praising Chicago's pick. It was from Jameson Williams, the Detroit Lions wideout whom Johnson coached for three seasons and a former high school teammate of Burden's.
"You got a dog just like me," Williams told Johnson.
Missouri wide receivers coach Jacob Peeler saw some of the same traits in Burden that he saw in Philadelphia Eagles star A.J. Brown, whom Peelers coached at Ole Miss.
After Brown's first season at Ole Miss, where he lined up predominantly out wide, Peeler moved him into the slot, which resulted in back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and Brown becoming the school's all-time leading receiver.
Peeler did the same for Burden, and it paid immediate dividends with the 6-foot receiver running 75% of his routes from the slot during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. As a sophomore, Burden had 1,212 receiving yards, one more than Arizona Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who was the first receiver drafted (fourth overall) in 2024.
But Burden's production dipped significantly -- 25 fewer catches, 536 less receiving yards and six touchdowns compared to nine the year before -- as a junior.
The Bears studied Burden's sophomore and junior seasons closely. There was nothing they could put their finger on as a reason for the drop in production. Burden believed it was due to receiving fewer opportunities than his sophomore season. The Bears believe it was a byproduct of Missouri's offense (Theo Wease became the Tigers' leading receiver with 884 yards on 60 targets).
"It was the same offensive coordinator, the same quarterback, but you still saw the flashes of the same skill set," Bears director of college scouting Breck Ackley said. "That's what really matters. Yes, I get the production was down. Our jobs is to answer the question: Was it a difference? Did something happen? Was he less explosive or slower? We saw none of that. He was the same level of player that we saw before."
Burden joins a crowded room as WR3 behind DJ Moore and Rome Odunze. Whom Johnson will turn to in big moments is a process that will begin this week when Burden and the other Bears rookies take the field with veteran players for the first time during OTAs. There are many mouths to feed on offense, but the Bears believe the heightened competition, particularly in the receiver room, will yield success in Johnson's first season.
"[If] I can't emphasize anything else, I'll go back to Ben's deal about being comfortable being uncomfortable," general manager Ryan Poles said. "Like there's some guys that are going to have to grind a little bit harder than probably they ever had before. So I think it's going to push everyone to be really good."
As the dust settled from Burden's draft night, a familiar name popped up on the receiver's phone. Williams had been making the rounds and let his former teammate from East St. Louis, Illinois, know what to expect from an offense that put him in position to have his best season as a pro in 2024.
"He told me I'm going to love it, so ... let's go," Burden said.