Luther Burden vs Lamar Jackson

“This is a reference to a song by The Rolling Stones. It also highlights how Luther Burden III is going to be an absolute beast this season. Don’t be afraid, buy into the hype. He’s a stud in a great situation.”

“08) – Luther Burden (WR, CHI) For the first and only time in this mock draft, Round 5 saw all three Ballers take a player at the same position.”

“Luther Burden III (WR – CHI) | ECR: WR24/ADP: 49 Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of optimism surrounding Luther Burden III and this entire Bears offense.”

“Like most fantasy football enthusiasts, count me among the stans. I am a fan of Burden’s game. I think he is great, but the LTV absolutely loves Burden.”

“Burden averaged 13.9 YPC, which is high when considering his low aDOT. That's attributable to the fact that Burden was a YAC machine in 2025, averaging 7.1 YAC per reception, which ranked 3rd in the NFL among WRs.”

“Burden finished 2025 with a paltry 12.8% target share on the season. This number obviously grew throughout the season, as his snap share increased, but that's still an uninspiring number. Better, though, were his Team Reception % (16%), Team Receiving Yards % (19%), and team WR Points % (26.9%), which shows how efficient Burden was when targeted.”

“From Weeks 10-18, Burden posted a WR5 overall finish with 2.67 YPRR. Burden was highly efficient on a per-route basis, and extrapolating that efficiency across a 17-game season in a full-time role would lock him into a top-12 finish at his position.”

“Rookie WR Luther Burden III started off slow but stepped up when it counted – in the playoffs. He was incredibly efficient with the ball, averaging 2.69 yards per route run, but he only earned a 13% target share on the season.”

“With D.J. Moore now in Buffalo, the table is set for Burden to take on a much larger role. If he builds on a rookie season in which he ranked third in yards per route run (2.79), Burden's value will shoot up higher than a reloadable mortar.”

“Burden lit up the 49ers in Week 17, racking up eight receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers made him the overall WR1 during fantasy championship week.”

“Luther Burden's numbers look incredible but he ran such a low percentage of the team's routes (RT %) that a 2026 leap needs to be contextualized with a new role in the Chicago offense.”

“Burden's Mid-Round 4 ADP is objectively one of the slappiest ADPs in the history of Best Ball. We're talking about a player with 652 career receiving yards being drafted ahead of the likes of Mike Evans and Davante Adams — not to mention two more established pass catchers on his own team. The conviction behind Burden despite stiff competition is driven by a strong college production profile and an elite year 1 YPRR in a part-time role.”

“Injuries and a steep decline in rushing production cratered Lamar Jackson ‘s fantasy value in 2025. After finishing QB1 in fantasy scoring in 2024, Jackson plummeted to a QB20 fantasy finish last season and was QB16 in fantasy points per game at the position. Jackson lost three games to an early-season hamstring injury and one game to a late-season back injury.”

“Lamar Jackson cratered many fantasy rosters in 2025. Before an early October hamstring injury, he was on pace for 3,700 passing yards, 437 rushing yards, and 47 total TDs.”

“The most obvious thing to consider is your positional strengths and weaknesses — trading for Lamar Jackson when you already have Josh Allen probably isn’t a good idea.”

“If you want an elite QB, pocket your picks for a round and a half and take Lamar Jackson, instead.”

“There isn’t a single drafted player on the Ravens that goes higher than I would take them, with Lamar Jackson standing out as the single best 1QB value I have ever seen if you want to get a top-two quarterback, going at pick 46, 19 picks past QB1, Josh Allen.”

“With plenty of time to recover from last season, Jackson is a ticking time bomb for fantasy production.”

“Things did not go well for Lamar Jackson in 2025, but he still displayed his ceiling early on before injuries started to stack up.”

“For what it’s worth, Lamar did speak highly of Doyle’s offense this spring, saying: “ It’s a different system than what I’m accustomed to being in, and I feel like there’s going to be a lot of explosiveness this year.”

“The case for Lamar staying near the top of the market: he’s not even 30 years old, he was still playing at an elite level in weeks one and two last season before his injury in week three derailed the rest of his year, and he has never failed to have an MVP-caliber first season under a new play caller, which is exactly the situation he’s in again this year.”

“Jackson's 2025 performance was marred by injury and a subpar level of play (by his standards). Therefore, while he has tremendous leverage by virtue of the restructure and the $84.34MM cap number it created for 2027, he may want to come to the negotiating table on the heels of a better season.”

“Todd Monken, reflecting on where things went wrong in Baltimore last season, feels that he didn't get the most out of Lamar Jackson. "I didn't coach well enough," Monken said. "I didn't get Lamar to play at his best when the best was needed."”

“Jackson mentioned that Doyle is running a completely different system from what Todd Monken deployed last season, while there are some concepts from what Greg Roman ran in 2022. Jackson expects more "explosiveness" this season, and Doyle is proving to be a very creative playcaller. "I feel like there's going to be a lot of explosiveness this year," Jackson said. "The way Declan calls plays and his creativity with his mind — how detailed he is — it's mind-blowing. I'm excited."”