On the surface, Detroit Lions ultra-speedster Jameson Williams and new Chicago Bears draft pick Luther Burden III don’t have much in common aside from playing wide receiver.
One is skinny and cartoonishly fast to the point where he makes other world-class speedsters look like they’re walking. The other is a long-striding but shifty bowling ball whose do-it-all play style reminds me of a less-chunky Deebo Samuel—and one of his current Bears teammates.
But the electrifying Detroit playmaker apparently liked Chicago’s pick of the Missouri product so much he texted his now-former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson afterward to tell him what he was getting.
“He said, ‘You got a dog just like me,’” Johnson told reporters after he and Ryan Poles took Burden with the No. 39 overall pick in the 2025 draft. “Luther has that same confidence. He’s got that same swagger to him.”
In the case of Williams and Burden, there’s more than scouting reports involved in that comparison. There’s brotherhood.
Both ballers are St. Louis-bred and attended Cardinal Ritter College Prep in the city at the same time when Burden was a freshman and Williams was a senior. After Williams went to college at Ohio State and later Alabama, Burden starred at Cardinal Ritter for two more seasons before spending his final high school year at East St. Louis Senior in Illinois.
Though no one would mistake Williams and his 4.2 speed for Burden, both Williams and Johnson know firsthand the dynamism the latter brings to the Bears.
“For 6-foot, 200-plus pounds, it’s rare to see somebody with his movement skills. He can stop on a dime and accelerate just like that. Give him a little bit of space, and he can make big things happen. A dangerous player, a weapon—call him what you want—but I see big things in his future,” Johnson said of Burden, whom he described simply as a “stud.”
While the Bears didn’t technically need another receiver in this draft, Burden is more than that: he’s a pure playmaker you find ways to get the ball to, not unlike DJ Moore. Those are the types of players you take first and figure out how to use later—if you’re savvy enough.
For the first time in a while, the Bears have a coach in Johnson who might actually be capable of doing that.
Though Burden might need some seasoning as a route-runner and technician at the position, his levels of “that dawg in him” are already insanely high. Williams has a point: you can’t teach that.