2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Missouri WR Luther Burden

All my scouting notes on the strengths, concerns, usage/role, skill set summary, NFL comparison and grade/projection for Missouri WR Luther Burden

Missouri WR Luther Burden

Height: 6-0
Weight: 206
Arm Length: 31 1/4 inches
Hand Size: 8 1/2 hand
Birthdate: 12/12/03 (21-year old rookie
Production: 38 games, 192 catches, 2,263 yards, 21 TDs (+4 rushing TDs)
Injuries: N/A
Games Watched: South Carolina, Boston College, Texas A&M, LSU 2023, Florida 2023

Scouting Notes

There is some alarming lack of awareness and football IQ that shows up too often in Burden’s game. At least 3 times in the five games I studied, Burden drifts out of bounds (once in end zone) or gets jammed out of the field of play. He plays with very little sense of finding space or manipulating coverages as a route runner, often running (walking?) off the ball and just sitting right on a defender. When releasing vertically, Burden will often run right into underneath defenders, allowing himself to be jammed up, re-routed and slowed down without making much effort to avoid those obstacles. Understanding (or implementing) the details of his position is so far behind where it should be right now.

And none of that even brings into question his effort, which is remarkably poor on most of the pass plays he’s on the field for. If Burden isn’t in the primary part of the progression (and sometimes even when he is!) expect him to jog off the ball and into his routes, which he often has no interest in even completing. At times he looked like he had a steps threshold that he couldn’t hit during the game, that’s how little effort he gave to even finishing his patterns.