They 'Gotta Pay:' Bears' Burden Driven by Draft Slight

By Clete Campbell Windy City End Zone Staff Writer

He is a young man immense talent and a long memory. He forgives but doesn’t forget.

April 24, 2025: His name and number slid down the first-round slide of the 2025 NFL Draft, twisting all the way past No. 32 to the second round and the second day.

Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” was playing in his mind as he saw his greatest lifelong football dream be delayed pick and pick again.

They didn’t call him Mr. Irrelevant, but they might have well as in his mind.

The live, wild competitive fire that burns inside of Luther Burden III was igniting into an inferno.

Finally, at Pick 39, the Chicago Bears – a team he never saw coming -- called his name and called him as their own go-to, game-changing receiver.

A month later, if you think he’s forgotten about the slide, well, friends, you don’t know Luther Burden III yet.

There shall be gridiron hell to pay for slighting him, he vows.

Luther’s looking at you, Green Bay. Matthew Golden over him in the first round? Seriously? You had your first-round chance, your loss, Burden reasons.

"No, that's staying with me forever," Burden said Monday. "Everybody who passed up on me gotta pay."

And LB3 is ready to get to work. The Missouri Tiger is ready to get wild on opposing secondaries.

"A dangerous player, a weapon, call him what you want, but I see big things in his future," Bears coach Ben Johnson said.

Burden has a brighter upside than a Vegas gambler sitting on Blackjack. Fox Sports’ Danny Parkin calls him “the potential steal of the (2025) Draft.: What do the Bears love about the 6-foot, 206-pound 21-year-old Illinois native from East St. Louis? There’s his 1,080 yards after the catch at Missouri (fifth most in FBS since 2023). There’s his gorgeous sly slot route running ability.

Then there’s the Texas-size chip on his shoulder, when used the right way can be a phenomenal motivational weapon. Critics have said he has an attitude and hustle problem, that he quit at times on Missouri in 2024.

And the Bears can’t wait to tap into LB3’s competitive juices. They won’t tell him to dial down his inner Rod Tidwell just yet.

After all, it's their opponents who said Luther Burden III wasn’t worth investing a high capital draft pick in.

“Teams will tell you lots of things, but taking them at their word might not be your own best interests,” Bears beat writer Erik Lambert of Sports Mockery wrote in a great piece on LB3’s draft slide. (https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-bears/new-details-prove-luther-burden-was-right-to-be-pissed-at-rest-of-nfl/). “This is a cutthroat league built on fierce competitiveness and ice-cold business decisions.

“What (teams who scouted him before the Draft) said to Luther Burden was more about what he wanted to hear than what they actually felt. While the receiver has undeniable 1st round talent, teams were never going to tell him the truth: that his deep in production (in 2024, when he dropped from 86 catches to 61, and touchdown receptions from nine to six) and rumors of maturity concerns meant there was no way they’d gamble a 1st round pick on him.

“Burden has every right to feel cheated and disrespected. The Bears don’t have to worry about that. They have the excuse of never having a real chance to take him in the 1st round and merely took advantage of other teams’ mistakes. He will use the outrage as fuel for his NFL career.

“All they have to do is fan the flames.”

LB3 wants to be the NFL’s best receiver, no matter what the scouts who determined he wasn’t a first-round talent said.

Luther Burden III won't forgive opponents like the Green Bay Packers for passing on him in the First Round of April's NFL Draft. "Everybody who passed up on me gotta pay," the Bears wide receiver said Monday.

“It's always in the back of my head that teams chose other people above me,” he said after the Draft. “So, I'll see them."