Know your Chiefs draft crush, Part 3: Luther Burden III
How does the Mizzou product hold up using our WR film review methodology?
It’s that time of the year again. The time we peer into our crystal balls and gaze into the stars to ascertain the future. That’s right, it’s draft season! And that means it’s time to dust off our yearly “know your Chiefs draft crush” series.
For some analysts, draft season is all year long. My colleagues at KC Sports Network do some of the very best work in the business, with a Chiefs-centric draft guide that is available now (this is one that all of you should purchase if you haven’t already). Danny Kelly with The Ringer has a terrific big board that he works on every year. My good friend Ryan Tracy has one of the best athletic matrix-based draft guides you’ll ever find. And of course, industry legend Dane Brugler releases “The Beast” draft guide based on his year-round scouting and legwork.
But for me, draft season starts now. That’s right, “know your Chiefs draft crush” is back! In part 1, I wrote about what direction the Chiefs may go and broke down defensive lineman Walter Nolen’s film. In part 2, I looked at the film of DT Derrick Harmon.
You can never have too many good wide receivers.
This is an absolute fact about the modern NFL. Part of it is the reality that it’s a passing league thanks to various rule changes and throwing the ball is the most efficient way to gain yards efficiently. But another part of it is simply a numbers game. Unlike most positions, a team commonly has three wide receivers on the field at any given time (3 WR sets are the most common personnel grouping in the league). It’s not unheard of to have 4 out there either.
In other words, if you have 3 terrific players at the position, you’re not wasting one of them languishing on the bench. Further, WR is a position that is somewhat unique in the way each player at the position has a direct effect on the rest of the guys at the position. I’ve written previously about “gravity” when it comes to receivers, both in the context of threatening the field deep as well as in the context of just being a good/great player that defenses have to key on. The basic idea is that a good receiver forces the defense to key on him… but if there are multiple good receivers on the field the ability of a defense to do so is limited and they’re forced to “pick their poison.” They are also forced to match up inferior CBs (their 2nd or 3rd best) on a good player, which creates mismatches and may dictate them away from certain coverages.
In short, good receivers can be something of a force multiplier, with each good player having an impact besides being a good player on his own. And that’s before you talk about potential injuries, etc.
All that is a long road to a short thought that I believe the Chiefs should draft a WR in the first several rounds of the draft basically every year. And even though I’m comfortable with the group of Rashee Rice (suspension/injury notwithstanding), Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown, if they get a chance at a high level talent early in the draft they should strongly consider it.
Which brings us to Luther Burden III, today’s subject of “know your Chiefs draft crush.”
Chiefs fans are more familiar with Burden than some other college WRs given he’s played at Missouri for his college career. Because of that familiarity, opinions on his game tend to be pretty strong. Because I don’t watch any college ball whatsoever, I went into this with no preconceived notions about Burden as a player. All I knew is that he’s talented and that after entering the 2025 season as a guy who could NEVER fall to the Chiefs, there’s some talk that he may be available late in the first.
And so to the film I went, using the same methodology I used for previous seasons’ “know your draft crush” articles when looking at WRs. The idea is to look at the traits Burden has in the areas of speed/acceleration/agility, releases, route running, hands/catch point work, YAC/playmaking… and then walk away with an overall takeaway.
The games I reviewed were Texas A&M and South Carolina from 2024, and then Georgia, Florida, and LSU from 2023. Let’s talk about Burden, who measured at 6’0” and 206 pounds.
(NOTE - Game clips are demonstrative, not dispositive. I don’t show them to “prove” any trait I’m writing about or to “prove” a prospect is good. I show them to demonstrate a point I’m discussing about their film… and in some cases, for fun. So keep that in mind!)
-Speed / acceleration / agility-
Burden moves well for a receiver who has decent size. He’s not a burner, but his downfield speed isn’t bad either. Just as importantly, he shows off a nice combination of acceleration along with good start/stop quickness. Overall, it’s rare to see a player have that combination of decent long speed, good acceleration, and good agility. He’s able to weaponize that in a way that allows him to grab separation even in an offense that didn’t have him run a complete route tree. But the raw materials are definitely there.
The stop/start in particular, as well as his ability to maintain his balance when changing direction, is something that stood out about Burden.
This is a terrific sideline catch, but don’t let that distract you as we’ll talk about his (wildly impressive) hands and ball skills later. When we’re talking about athleticism, what I’m looking at here is the way Burden is able to stop/start smoothly and accelerate FAST to the gap in the zone defenders. His burst gives him an edge when he’s trying to separate on various routes, similar to how Rice is able to grab a step in the first 5 yards against defenders.