Bears sign Luther Burden III to fully-guaranteed contract

The Chicago Bears are still signing their rookies, and they recently came to an agreement with one of them, making history as the first full guaranteed deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“Chicago Bears reached agreement today with second-round pick WR Luther Burden III on a fully-guaranteed, $10.965 million contract, marking the first time in NFL history that the 39th pick has secured a fully-guaranteed deal, per the WINSportsGroup,” Schefter wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Second-round offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo and defensive tackle Shemar Turner also signed their rookie deals, and they included mostly guaranteed money. There has been a recent wave of second-round picks signing their contracts as they were trying to get fully guaranteed deals like first-round picks.

Some of the second-round picks who were awarded those fully guaranteed deals were Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger and Houston Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins.

Burden is supposed to play an important role with the Bears, and they would love to get him out on the field as training camp starts. He’s been dealing with a soft tissue injury that led him to miss OTAs and minicamp, but he was a part of rookie minicamp.  There is hope that he’ll be available for training camp, and he can get acclimated with the team.

The Bears have some bright expectations for this season, especially after getting Ben Johnson as their new head coach. His offensive system is tailored to the players who are already on the team, most importantly, Caleb Williams. If the second-year quarterback can have a big year, the Bears will be a team to watch out for this season, and years to come.

Burden and Williams will need to build a connection during training camp, and there’s a good chance that the rookie could have a solid year in this system.