WR · CHI · GWTTKB

Luther Burden III — fantasy football 2026

Every game, every stat category, and what the board says. 8.53 points per game in 2025, usage worth 7.4.

Updated 2026-08-16 · free, no account, no paywall
Every figure below comes from our database. Where a stat is not held, the row is absent rather than zero.

What we project for 2026

Our board has him at 210.9 points, 12.9 per game — 69.5 catches, 937 yards, 6 TDs. That is WR3, 48 overall.

The range runs from a floor of 9.6 points per game to a ceiling of 19, with the median at 12.9. Boom rate 47%, bust rate 25%. The spread is the actual bet, not the middle number.

The offense he plays in, 2026

Chicago Bears returns 5 of 6 continuity slots, replacing oc. Caleb Williams at quarterback, Ben Johnson as head coach, Press Taylor calling it. The offense projects to 33.6 pass attempts a game at medium confidence and 28.4 rushes.

In: Kalif Raymond (wr3), Zavion Thomas (wr5), JP Richardson (wr6), Alexander Maurice (wr7), Sam Roush (te2). Out: DJ Moore (wr2), Luther Burden (wr3), Olamide Zaccheaus (wr4), Travis Homer (rb3), Cole Kmet (te2).

His own projected target share for 2026 is 10.8%, with a bear case of 9.1% and a bull case of 12.7% and a full range of 6% to 13.7%. That comes from 29 historical comparables, not from a depth chart.

The projected target split across the offense:

Rome Odunze18.5%
Colston Loveland16.8%
Luther Burden III 10.8%
D'Andre Swift9.4%
Zavion Thomas8.9%
Sam Roush7.9%

Our written view on this offense in 2026

What the offense looks like: Whoever emerges as Caleb Williams primary target will be an ELITE fantasy asset to own. We still do not know with 100% certainy who that will be. You may think it would be Rome Odunze, but Luther Burden III has shown a TON of promise. There is room for both of these young WR to eat, but Colston Loveland may be the real beneficiary of the additional targets. he looks like a true star. RB room is likely a 1A/1B for the foreseable future. Both Swift and Monangai see their value skyrocket if the other gets hurt.

Key additions: Bears added WR Kalif Raymond from Lions (expected to operate as WR3 because Ben Johnson loves him). Drafted Rookie WR Zavion Thomas 3rd round. Drafted TE Sam Roush RD 3.

Key departures: Biggest 2 losses C Drew Dalman retired unexpectedly & LT Ozzy Trapilo suffered serious knee injury sidelining him the entire 2026 season. WR DJ Moore traded to Bills for a 2nd round pick. WR Olamide Zaccheaus also left Chicago this offseason. Opening up a massive target opportunity for Bears pass catchers.

Notes: Strong disagreement who the WR1 will be in 2026. Odunze looked fantastic early in 2025, but Burden stole the show in the back half of the season. Loveland has emerged as Williams favorite target. Caleb Williams is set to have an excellent season again. RB room looks to remain the same with Swift 1A & Monangai 1B. Bears drafted TE Sam Roush in the 3rd round. Cole Kmet may be traded. Highly relevant fantasty offense.

How the volume number was reached: Same QB Caleb Williams returning — anchor to 2025 actuals (33.7 att/g); Regressed 42% toward league mean 33.5, floored at 30 → 33.6 att/g; New OC Press Taylor — pass rate and tempo may shift.

How that share projection was built

29 historical comps for WRs age ~?, prior share 13.4%, team change, OC change. Distribution: median 10.9%, p25-p75 [8.6%, 13.5%], tails [4.5%, 14.9%]. Closest comps: Mecole Hardman 2022→2023 (KC→NYJ: 11.2%→9.7%); K.J. Osborn 2023→2024 (MIN→NE: 13.7%→11.0%); JuJu Smith-Schuster 2023→2024 (NE→KC: 14.2%→7.3%).

arrival self-anchored 21% to own 13.4% role (1yr)

The named comps are the closest historical matches and the arrow is what their share actually did the following season. That is the working, not a summary of it — if you disagree with the projection, this is the part to argue with.

Offensive environment: CHI rates 24.9 against a league average of 23, 1.9 points above it on opponent-adjusted least squares (multi-capture merge).

2026 schedule

Opponent-adjusted pass defense faced, against 2025 ratings. Positive is an easier slate.

Full season-3.3 · harder
Weeks 1–6-8 · harder
Weeks 12–17+1.4 · neutral
Fantasy playoffs (15–17)-4.5 · harder

Read this narrowly. Our own testing found that season-long strength of schedule does not survive as a draft input — defensive quality is among the least stable team properties year to year, and a preseason slate is built on last year's identities. The playoff-weeks column is the only one we would let break a tie, and even then it is a tiebreaker rather than a reason. The finding.

What happened when he missed time

From the absence record rather than a depth chart — who actually gained when he was out.

SeasonGames missedMain beneficiaryTheir PPR gain
20252D.J. Moore+14
Read the full Luther Burden III study →

Dynasty context not redraft

Everything in this section is about his dynasty trade value — what he is worth as a long-term asset in the trade market. It is not a forecast of his 2026 fantasy scoring. A player can be a fine redraft pick while his dynasty value falls, and the reverse. The redraft read is above; this is a different question with a different answer.

The five most similar seasons, and what their dynasty value did next

Matched on production profile — blended production + pedigree. The last column is how that player’s dynasty value moved the following year — a market outcome, not a scoring one.

PlayerSeasonTheir PPGSimilarityNext year
K.J. Hamler20207.575%-26.8%
Elijah Moore20226.372%+0.2%
Michael Pittman20207.671%+27.5%
Treylon Burks2022870%-21.2%
George Pickens20229.869%+17.2%

Of the 5 with a following season on record, 2 gained value, 2 lost it and 1 held roughly flat.

Four years of dynasty value

02,0004,0006,0002026
Monthly superflex value, 2025-05 to 2026-07. Up 16% across the series, peaking at 5,745.

The player

Draft capital and athletic profile

Drafted2025, round 2, pick 39 by CHI
CollegeMissouri
Age at draft21
Height6′0″
Weight206 lb
40-yard dash4.41s

The record, season by season

2025 · CHI · 15 games

His best game was Week 17 against SF — 27.8 PPR on 9 targets and a 23.1% target share, in a game that finished 38-42. His worst was Week 1 against MIN at 0.7, on 1 targets, final score 24-27. Across 15 games he cleared 20 points 1 time and came in under 8 points 8 times. In the 9 games decided by 8 points or fewer he averaged 9; in the 6 decided by more, 7.9. He scored more when the game was live.

Earned against scored

His usage that season was worth 7.4 points per game. He scored 8.53, 10.8% above it. The engine classified the season as lucky. On receiving touchdowns specifically he finished 0 against 1.4 expected, a gap of -1.4.

WkOppScorePPRRecTgtYdsTDTgt%Snap%
1MIN24-270.711-302.9%
2DET21-521.512506.1%
3DAL31-1419.833101110.7%
4LV25-241.622-405.6%
6WAS25-249.14451013.8%
7NO26-143.1122208%
8BAL16-300.911-102.9%
10NYG24-208.1335108.3%
11MIN19-175.73527017.9%
12PIT31-289.13546016.7%
13PHI24-157.64633018.8%
14GB21-28114667021.4%
15CLE31-314.46784025.9%
17SF38-4227.889138123.1%
18DET16-197.53435013.8%

Production

Receptions47
Targets60
Receiving yards652
Carries6
Rushing yards37
Touchdowns2
Points per game8.53
Yards per target10.87
Catch rate78.33%
Yards per carry6.17

Role

Target share13.06%
Air-yards share10.75%
WOPR0.271
RACR1.209

Efficiency

Receiving EPA per game2.01
Rushing EPA per game0.15

Scoring position

Red-zone targets7
Red-zone target share8.8%
End-zone target share2.9%
Expected receiving TDs1.4
Actual receiving TDs0
Receiving TD luck-1.4

Who else ate

The offense threw it 574 times. He took 11.32% of the targets. 3 team-mates cleared the competing-target threshold.

Rome Odunze16.98%
D.J. Moore16.04%
Colston Loveland15.47%
Olamide Zaccheaus12.26%
Luther Burden III 11.32%
D'Andre Swift9.06%

Blowouts against close games

3 of his 15 games were blowouts, 27.9% of his snaps coming in them. He averaged 11.9 in those and 8.96 in close games — a meaningful share of his scoring came with the game already decided.

Ask the Coach about Luther Burden III →
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