Film Session: Luther Burden III NFL draft prospect profile

Pro scouting report of Missouri Tigers wide receiver Luther Burden III

Luther Burden III is a junior wide receiver from the University of Missouri. Burden has started 33 out of 38 games with the Tigers.

From his baseline measurables, Burden III has average weight, below-average height and arm length, and poor hand size for the wide receiver position.

Burden comes into the NFL off of a down statistical season from his impressive sophomore season, where he accumulated 1,212 yards on 86 catches with nine touchdowns. He was a 2023 Biletnikoff Award semifinalist, 2023 Second Team All-America, and First Team All-SEC selection, starting all 13 games. Despite a down 2024 campaign, Burden was First Team All-SEC after starting ten out of 12 games in 2024.

What to make of Luther Burden III as a wide receiver? Here are my takeaways from Burden’s college film.

Burden’s primary alignment is at the slot, where he is most effective the more touches he gets. As the release point, he wins with good foot quickness and lateral agility, mainly using subtle jab steps to manipulate the defender’s hips and get into his route. He shows good initial acceleration climbing vertically within his route stem. He displays good quickness at the top of his routes and can quickly transition out of breaks. He is also an instinctive player, and it shows in scramble drill mode when he converts his routes into zone voids. He has good foot speed to break routes vertically, giving his quarterback a third-level threat if needed.

Burden shows excellent fluidity and body control when adjusting to passes as a pass catcher. He is excellent at tracking the football; he consistently demonstrated the ability to win on back-shoulder and over-the-shoulder situations. What makes him a more significant threat is his late adjustments with eyes and hands to keep defenders away from the football. He can pluck away from his frame, which, for his measurables, is very impressive. His mental toughness to win in critical moments of a game is an additional threat he provides to any offense.

With the ball in his hands, Burden shows elite playmaking potential. Burden has outstanding contact balance and functional strength to stay on his feet and maximize yardage. Burden has natural vision and instincts to feel contact and has a plan to make people miss on designed carries. He showed the ability to consistently distance himself from the nearest defender and beat angles as a runner. He has high-level elusiveness, good lateral agility, and stop/start burst.

What is lacking in Burden’s tape is his ability to separate from defenders. Burden has below-average processing, manipulating defender hips at the breakpoint to win on the second and third levels. He has to finish his routes better at the next level, or he will struggle. Burden lacks competitiveness at the catch point in contested catches over the middle of the field and can drop passes in those situations.

You can watch the full film session of Luther Burden III on YouTube below.

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