Luther Burden

ANALYSIS
Burden (6-foot, 206 pounds) was a blue-chip recruit at Missouri who mostly followed through on expectations but still went into the NFL Draft with a somewhat uneven prospect profile. More specifically, Burden has demonstrated standout athleticism (4.41-second 40-yard dash) and was clearly a standout yards-after-catch threat throughout his three-year collegiate career, but Burden never conclusively demonstrated a skill set as a route runner, especially downfield. Burden has the wheels and hands to make a downfield impact, and it could turn out that his usage in the Missouri offense needlessly limited his route tree. Burden might primarily work from the slot in Chicago in the short term, if only because DJ Moore and Rome Odunze figure to claim most of the boundary snaps.

ANALYSIS
Burden began the draft process as a locked-in first-rounder in mock drafts, but he's now been excluded from the top-32 picks in each of Kiper's last two mocks. He tested well in terms of straight line speed at the combine, but the concern appears to be a downturn in production during his final year at Missouri, when he posted only 676 yards with six touchdowns across 12 games. While solid, that was less than half of his production from 2023.