Burden's groin injury wipes out his entire preseason — and the Bears' receiving depth was already thin before it happened

Luther Burden III is expected to miss the preseason with a groin injury, and the team believes he'll be ready for Week 1 against Carolina. That's the optimistic read. The less optimistic one: Burden finished last season as the Bears' third receiver by production, and the depth behind him at wide receiver is essentially nonexistent. Only two wideouts carried meaningful playing time in 2025. Everyone else on the roster is working from zero.

The timing is what makes this uncomfortable. Caleb Williams is entering his third year, and the chemistry work that happens in August — routes run at speed, timing adjusted to a new offensive staff's preferences — matters more for a receiver than almost any other position. Burden missing all of it means he arrives at Week 1 having skipped the part of the offseason where the offense actually gets built. The team believes he'll be fine. They may be right. But "fine" and "ready" are different things.

What's already on the depth chart doesn't offer much cushion. Kalif Raymond is 32 and the nominal top option at the position by playing time. After him, the production drop is steep. This was a documented concern before Burden went down — the corps was thin by count and thinner by quality of depth. Burden's injury doesn't create the problem so much as it removes the one player who was supposed to paper over it.

The broader context here is one I've been tracking since Bryant's surgery earlier this week: this Bears team won more games last year than its talent strictly warranted, and it did so by executing in close situations. That margin is gone now. A receiving corps going into September with its second option short on preseason reps is one more place where the arithmetic gets harder.