It must be nice to be one of the head coach’s handpicked rookies, but it isn’t buying Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III any margin on the practice field. He’s been back two days, and coach Ben Johnson got on him about lining up incorrectly twice.
After it happened Monday, Johnson acknowledged Tuesday morning that Burden is “a little behind right now” after missing significant time in offseason practices and the first week of training camp because of a hamstring injury. A similar issue popped in practice Tuesday, when Johnson stepped in to reset a play after Burden appeared to line up in the wrong place.
Burden, the No. 39 overall pick, showed electric playmaking ability, but it was clear he’d need some work refining his game. The time off hasn’t helped.
He has been in meetings throughout his time with the Bears and observing walk-throughs, but as Johnson said last week, “There’s really no substitute for full-speed reps, so the sooner we get him out there, the quicker he can carve a role for himself.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore added that between acclimating to the speed of the game and grasping route concepts in action, Burden has missed quite a bit.
It’s early, and Burden will get a great opportunity because of his potential and where he was drafted, but it was a particularly bad time to be out. Johnson has his top two wide receivers in Moore and Rome Odunze, and veteran Olamide Zaccheaus has been strong in camp coming off a season of 45 catches, 506 yards and three touchdowns with the Commanders.
Burden, a second-round pick, missed a lot of practice in the offseason and the first week of training camp due to injury.
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Johnson is building Williams into an NFL quarterback from the ground up, literally, as he changes his footwork, rewires his thinking in the pocket and more.
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The Michigan star’s skills drew the Bears to him in April. They picked him 10th overall despite having greater needs at tackle and running back — and in part because three tackles were taken with the first nine selections.
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