Bears assistant’s endorsement points to a 2026 breakout for Luther Burden III and sheds light on areas he showed major improvement
The stars could be aligning for Luther Burden III to have a massive second season.
The Chicago Bears had no shortage of offensive weapons during the 2025-26 season and by the end of the year, two rookies in Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III stood out as the most promising pass catchers on the roster.
That’s no shade on DJ Moore or Rome Odunze, either. Both wide receivers dealt with injuries throughout the season that opened the door for Loveland and Burden to become more prominent options in the passing game.
Loveland has already proved he’s on his way toward becoming a top tight end in this league. Burden still has a ways to go, but showed flashes that a 2026 breakout is easily attainable.
Antwaan Randle El has high praise for Luther Burden III following rookie season
“Very special and he hadn’t really scratched the surface yet,” Bears WRs coach Antwaan Randle El said of Burden during his interview with Jarrett Payton, via GNSports TV. “Meaning, like, he’s done some things in practice where you’re like ‘woah’ and you go back and look at the film and this is why I was so excited to draft him.”
Watching the tape tells you everything you need to know about Burden. He’s shifty, explosive, and a mad-dog after the catch with the ball in his hands. But, that’s what the Bears already knew about him when they drafted him 39th overall. The areas he improved at, after getting to Chicago, is really what gives the coaching staff excitement for his potential.
“Man, once he finally started getting the hang of it – in terms of alignment and assignment and being where he’s supposed to be when he’s supposed to be there – we knew when you get the ball in his hands he lights up, we know that,” Randle El added. “But, at some point, he began to realize that’s great, but I gotta be able to go out there and block for my teammates as well. That’s what began to show up on tape and in the run game, someone else catching the ball and him running down the field and getting a block. Those things that have come together with the ability to light up when he has the ball in his hands, that’s going to be great. Everybody’s going to see that and say ‘wow.’”
Randle El made sure to note that Burden really didn’t have an offseason ahead of his rookie season after dealing with a lingering hamstring injury. That injury made it an early climb for Burden to understand the details of the offense and why the season started out so slow for him.
But, once he started getting those details down and started earning the ball more by blocking for his teammates, Burden was able to explode. He finished his rookie season with 47 receptions for 652 yards and two touchdowns. His 2.69 yards per route run during the regular season trailed only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba among WRs with 50+ targets.
He’s truly just scratching the surface of what he can do in this league, and for this team. With a full offseason under his belt going into a second year in this offense, the sky is the limit for what Burden can stack together in 2026.
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