Here's why Bears coach Ben Johnson is 'buying Luther Burden stock'

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https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2026/05/28/bears-ben-johnson-caleb-williams-quarterback-room-different-place-than-it-was-a-year-ago-organized-team-activity-halas-hall-nfl" target="_blank" >Ben Johnson doesn’t gush.

Ask the https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears" target="_blank" >Bears coach about one of his players, and he usually maintains the same stoicism he shows on the sideline during game days.

That’s what made his declaration Thursday as intriguing as it was out of character.

“I'm buying Luther Burden stock right now,” he said.

The Bears led the world know what they thought of the second-year wide receiver when they traded DJ Moore in March, less than two years after giving him a four-year, $110 million deal.

To take Moore's place, the team is banking on Burden to improve upon his late season surge last year, when he caught 34 of his 47 passes and 481 of his 652 yards after Nov. 1.

His 138 receiving yards in a December game against the 49ers was the most any Bears receiver posted all season.

Johnson feels even more strongly about Burden’s potential after watching him the past few months.

Burden stayed close to Halas Hall in the offseason, with the exception of taking a trip to USC to work with quarterback Caleb Williams and fellow pass-catchers.

It’s paid off early.

Johnson said Burden rattled off one explosive play after another in Wednesday’s first organized team activity practice.

On Thursday, he caught a pass, scampered up the right sideline and spiked the ball defiantly after stepping out of bounds.

“Just how he's approached his offseason, it's been … electric,” Johnson said Thursday. “I loved how in [individual drills] he was finishing every single rep that he took. …

“[His positional coaches] have done a phenomenal job with him, just working to develop those things — speed cuts to sharp breaks, releases, things of that nature — and he's been extremely coachable.

So I'm really happy with him.”

With Moore gone, the pressure’s on.

“DJ was great for us — a great leader for us, great leader for the room,” Burden said. “So somebody’s  gotta step up.”

Johnson’s offense is too democratic to focus on feeding just one receiver.

Still, the coach found different ways — screens and quick throws — to give Burden a chance to run with physicality after he got the ball in his hands.

That’s what impressed the Bears enough to take Burden in Round 2 after a standout career at Missouri.

This year, the Bears will lean on Burden to run more traditional routes, too.

The Bears introduced a new route to him Wednesday, only to watch him run it “as well as I’ve been around” minutes later, Johnson said.

“I think there's a lot more to his game that we've worked to unlock,” Johnson said. “And he's been really receptive to how we can get that done.”

A calm offseason helps.

Burden spent the first part last offseason training for the NFL Scouting Combine.

He then hurt his ribs and later his hamstring during the Bears’ offseason practices — the latter lingered into training camp — and struggled to learn parts of the playbook as the season approached.

“He didn’t really have the opportunity to get everything down,” receivers coach Antwaan Randle El said.

Now he looks like what the Bears saw on his college tape.

“He knows the offense, he’s getting off, he’s running. … full speed, no hesitation,” Randle El said. “And that's showing up because he knows the offense.

He has more confidence than he’s has before.

He’s catching it, he’s finishing down the field.

And those things translate over to the game.”

It’s a completely different speed.

“You knew he had it in him,” Johnson said. “He’s a 4.4-[second 40-yard dash] guy.

And yet those timed speeds don’t always translate to real speed, football speed, the game tape.

And so I think we’re starting to see that now.

He’s not thinking as much, he knows what we’re trying to do.” 

Knowing the offense better helps Burden focus on the opponent and not himself.

“If you already know what you've gotta do,” he said, “I feel like you'll have a better plan of how to attack their defense.”

Last season, Burden led all rookie receivers who had more than 10 catches with 10.9 receiving yards per target.

There will be more targets this year.

“I feel like, man, you just go out there, you make plays [and] Coach Ben gonna want to give you the ball more,” he said.

D’Andre Swift described him as “a young man that’s hungry, that knows his ability." Told about it, Burden was asked what exactly he was hungry to do.

“Just prove, y’know, that I am who I say I am,” he said. 

And what is that?

“The guy,” he said, pausing. “I’m that guy.”