After suffering a groin injury during training camp in early August, things are trending in the right direction for Luther Burden. The wideout returned to practice this past Wednesday and while Burden didn’t play in Saturday’s preseason finale vs. the Titans, none of the Bears’ starters suited up and head coach Ben Johnson told the media after the contest that Burden “looks 100%,” putting him on track for the regular-season opener vs. the Panthers on Sept. 13.
Fantasy Outlook
For very good reason, Burden has been a trendy fantasy pick all summer and with him likely to be fully healthy for Week 1, Burden is a strong investment at his current ADP of 46.8 for Best Ball drafts on DraftKings.
Burden displayed great upside during his rookie season. Among receivers, the 22-year-old ranked eighth in YPPR (2.34) and ninth in FPTS per snap (0.33), which was ahead of CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Chris Olave and George Pickens, just to name a few.
Burden did this damage playing alongside DJ Moore, who is now out of the equation after being traded to the Bills this offseason. Moore finished third for Chicago in targets (95) and with the veteran gone, Burden is going to be a full-time player for the Bears that has the potential to lead Chicago in targets.
Burden saw a target on 23.4% of his routes last season, which was a better rate than both Colston Loveland and Rome Odunze, who are the main two players Burden will be competing against for targets this season.
Even with Moore active for all these games, Burden averaged 11.1 FPTS per game in the seven games he logged over 50% of the snaps last season. Burden topped 20 FPTS twice, including a career-high 30.8 FPTS outburst vs. the 49ers in Week 17, when Burden hauled in 8-of-9 targets for 138 yards and a touchdown.
Burden is going to bring huge upside on a weekly basis this season and him finishing as a top-15 receiver could happen.
