NFL Draft Scouting Report: Luther Burden III, WR, Missouri

Don’t the Packers already have a slot receiver?

Over the next week or so, we’re going to look at wide receivers who make sense for what the Green Bay Packers both want and need at the position. You’re reading the first installment of the series. If you want to read more of these reports, check out the Green Bay Packers Draft subgroup to find more draft coverage.

What do the Packers want and need at receiver?

What do the Packers want? Since 2019, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur’s receivers have averaged 207.6 pounds per play. For reference, only four other teams in the league drafted players with that average weight over a 13-year span. Of the seven receivers who have seen the most playing time under LaFleur, only one — Jayden Reed, a full-time slot receiver — has weighed less than 204 pounds. All of those receivers who weighed at least 204 pounds were also at least 6’0”, too.

Like it or not, LaFleur’s offense is a run-first scheme, which means that his receivers are going to need a certain size due to how often they’re asked to make key blocks in the ground game. With the NFL’s formations becoming more condensed, as outside receivers start creeping in closer and closer to the offensive line, the Packers aren’t the only offense structured this way, either.

And what do the Packers need? Well, the loss of Christian Watson to a late 2024 ACL tear means that the club will need to add speed at the position this offseason. The fear of defenses congesting the lower zones, where Reed, Tucker Kraft, and Romeo Doubs typically make their biggest impact, should be a top concern of the front office going into 2025.

So in this series, we’re going to look at receivers who are 6’0” and 200 pounds, think of that as “Packer-type bodies,” who also were able to record at least a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the combine in Indianapolis this year. The top player who hit these thresholds, according to the consensus draft board, was Luther Burden III of Missouri, who is currently ranked as the 22nd player in the class.

Luther Burden III scouting report

Burden is a former five-star recruit from East St. Louis who decided to stay in-state with the Missouri Tigers. As a freshman, he was mostly used as an outside receiver, a big difference from his final two years in the SEC.

479 of his 631 outside receiver snaps at Missouri came in 2022 when he recorded all of 375 receiving yards and 8.3 yards per reception. For perspective, he averaged 14.1 and 11.1 yards per reception in the following two years. He also returned 24 punts at the college level.

From 2023 to 2024, Burden played out of the slot 1,034 times compared to just 152 outside snaps. Even when lining up outside in these years, the majority of his targets came on manufactured touches: screens, check-downs, RPOs and plays where he either entered or exited out of the backfield. Outside of a shot play against Georgia in 2023 and an out-and-up against Georgia Tech in 2024, the vast majority of his production has come out of the slot. In that slot-heavy role, he was able to earn First-Team All-SEC honors in both 2023 and 2024.

He’s a smooth, not sudden, player who does well when the ball is in his hands and is always looking to make an extra defender miss in the open field. He is great at flipping his hips to put himself in yards after catch opportunities. If you’re looking for a field stretcher, though, he’s not your guy. The majority of his explosive plays that weren’t manufactured touches often came from crossers or fades out of the slot against nickelbacks, linebackers and safeties.

There’s a lot more Randall Cobb in his game than Christian Watson or Marquez Valdes-Scantling. With Jayden Reed already commanding the Packers’ slot role and Burden not having much tape against future starting NFL outside cornerbacks, Burden is sort of a squad peg to Green Bay’s round hole.

If someone is looking for the next Jaxon Smith-Njigba, they’ll probably be very happy taking Burden in the first round. With the Packers already struggling to get Reed to beat man coverage out of the slot, though, the last thing they need is to spend a high draft pick on another receiver who can’t take the top off of a defense from an outside alignment.