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Ben Johnson's worst fears with Luther Burden III are already coming true at Bears training camp after the rookie's return to the field

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Kole Noble | Last updated Jul 29, 2025 2:36 PM ET

When the Chicago Bears opened up training camp last week, one player was surprisingly not on the field in second-round rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III.

The next morning, head coach Ben Johnson explained that Burden was still dealing with a soft-tissue injury in his hamstring he suffered earlier in the offseason and would be " day-to-day" to start camp.

Burden ended up missing the first four practices but finally made it on the field, in light work, on Monday with the rest of the team.

It was great to finally see the dynamic rookie on the field and catching passes, even if he didn't fully participate in team drills. However, when going through formations and lining up with the offense, Burden showed some of the noticeable lapses that Johnson was afraid of seeing.

"It shows up already," Johnson said. "I mean, we were in the walk-through yesterday afternoon and the misalignments—we have to re-huddle, we have to start it all over again. He's a little bit behind right now."

Those kind of mental mistakes on the field can really set the offense back when it comes to getting Burden acclimated with the rest of the unit. Earlier in the spring, Johnson mentioned how important it is to earn the trust from both your coaches and teammates by doing things the right way.

"They have to see you do it," Johnson said in the spring. "They have to know that the guy to the right and the left of them are going to do the right things, and they’re going to make the plays when called upon."

The same kind of issues continued during Tuesday's practice. The rookie finally started to get mixed in with the first-team offense during 11-on-11 drills but Burden was eventually pulled out of one drill by his head coach after reportedly "having trouble lining up in the right spot."

Looks like Ben Johnson wasn’t happy with Luther Burden. Pulled him out of a drill. Think Burden had trouble lining up in his right spot. #Bears
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 29, 2025

Johnson isn't messing around, clearly, and is holding everyone to a very high standard. After being asked about Burden on Friday, veteran wide receiver DJ Moore noted that "when [Burden] gets out there, he’s just got to be ready to go" and now we're seeing exactly why.

Hopefully Burden starts getting a better hold on what the expectations are now that he's back on the field and avoids making some of these mistakes again.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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