Rightfully, Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan attracted all the attention among the 2025 wide receiver class, with late riser Emeka Egbuka ultimately becoming the third receiver selected. The hype surrounding all three of those was fair, and all three have delivered so far, though Hunter has been better as a cornerback than a wide receiver. Still, the second-best rookie wide receiver by Pro Football Focus’ grading standards (behind Detroit Lions wideout Isaac TeSlaa) is not McMillan or Egbuka but the Chicago Bears’ Luther Burden III, who has the 18th-highest grade among all wideouts who have seen the field.
Burden was used sparingly over the season’s first two games, pulling in two of his three targets for two yards. But in the Bears’ Week 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys, he got wide open deep on a flea flicker and Caleb Williams found him for a 65-yard score that traveled 62.1 yards in the air, the longest completed pass of the season. He also hauled in two other passes to finish with a three-catch, 101-yard, one-score line, and quarterback Caleb Williams had the best performance of his career. It was an extremely promising result for new head coach Ben Johnson’s offense, and Johnson’s track record indicates that some of the success could be sustainable.
Williams certainly didn’t play a perfect game, and he still ranks second-to-last in the league in completion percentage above expectation. But Johnson chose to be aggressive with his big-armed quarterback, having him launch it more than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage 13 times, and Williams excelled, with all four of his touchdowns coming on long-range strikes. That should continue to benefit Burden, whose 4.41 speed and excellent ball skills make him a deep threat at the pro level. Two of his three targets against the Cowboys came more than 20 yards downfield, and he also had a few big plays in the preseason.
Burden will never be Williams’ first choice: even in Week 3, he played only 28.8% of the team’s offensive snaps. The rookie remains buried on the depth chart behind D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze, and even Olamide Zacchaeus has received more targets. But in an ultra-aggressive Johnson offense, three different wide receivers can simultaneously thrive; even the Detroit Lions’ third wideout Tim Patrick racked up nearly 400 receiving yards and three touchdowns last season. Plus, unlike the 2024 Lions, Johnson no longer has the running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery to turn to; while D’Andre Swift can play a Gibbs-lite role, Montgomery’s targets can are more likely to go to a wideout like Burden than Swift’s backup, Kyle Monangai.
