LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Luther Burden was hungry when he joined the Chicago Bears. A year later, not much has changed on that front.
He has somewhere he wants to go, and he is determined to reach that level.
“Just prove, you know, that I am who I say I am. ... I’m that guy,” Burden said Thursday on the second day of organized team activities.
The Bears are believers, and they showed just how much they think of Burden's potential when they traded veteran
receiver DJ Moore to Buffalo in March. With Moore gone, the 22-year-old Burden is expected to take on a more prominent role alongside fellow receiver Rome Odunze and second-year tight end Colston Loveland.
“Yeah, I’m buying Luther Burton stock right now," coach Ben Johnson said. “Just how he’s approached his offseason, it’s been electric. It showed up yesterday. He had numerous explosive plays. ... So he’s in a really good spot.”
Burden starred at the University of Missouri before he was selected by Chicago in the second round of last year's draft. He had 61 catches for 676 yards and six TDs in his final season with the Tigers, despite facing constant double- and triple-team coverage.
He was hampered by a hamstring injury in the run-up to his first training camp with the Bears. But he finished with 47 receptions for 652 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games during his rookie season.
"Every day he goes to work, he knows his ability, and it shows,” running back D’Andre Swift said.
Burden had just two receptions for 2 yards in his first two NFL games. But he broke out in a 31-14 victory over Dallas in Week 3, finishing with three catches for 101 yards and his first TD. He had a season-high eight receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown in a 42-38 loss at San Francisco on Dec. 28.
He averaged 2.69 yards per route run during the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus, ranking third in the league among wide receivers.
“When we drafted him, we saw an explosive athlete who was really dangerous with the ball in his hands. The question was, ‘How can we get it in his hands?’” Johnson said. “The easy things to do are screens or short throws, but I think there’s a lot more to his game that we’ve worked to unlock, and he’s been really receptive to how we can get that done.”
Burden said Moore played a big role in his development.
“Just seeing how he takes care of his body, how he prepares himself for practice, games, stuff like that,” he said. “And just picking his brain. It was great.”
Burden said he feels someone has to step up with Moore gone, and he prepared for his second year in the NFL by spending much of his offseason at the Bears' facility. He wanted to get bigger, stronger and faster, along with more comfortable with the playbook.
He thinks his familiarity with the system is already helping him play faster this time around.
“I feel it helps a lot because if you’re thinking about what you’ve gotta do, you can’t even focus on what the defense is in,” he said. “You’re trying to focus on what you’ve gotta do. If you already know what you’ve gotta do, I feel like you’ll have a better plan of how to attack their defense.”
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