Bears WR Luther Burden III reveals hilarious reason for picking No. 87 jersey number

Luther Burden III is looking to turn himself from a second-round pick to one of the best wide receivers in Chicago Bears history. And he will do so while donning a number that, if he is to be asked, he initially did not want.

The Missouri alum had worn No. 3 throughout his high school and college careers, and he might have been able to carry it over to his new team if not for one problem: it is retired for Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski. As a result, he will have to make do with 87 as was announced on Thursday.

It was something that he joked about during rookie minicamp on Friday:

"All the good numbers are gone."

On a more serious note, Burden had this message for the 31 teams who snubbed him:

"That's staying with me forever. Everyone who passed up on me gotta pay."

Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle discussed how he and head coach Ben Johnson plan to use Burden with Rome Odunze, DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, and fellow rookie Colston Loveland also onboard:

"You can use him in a lot of different ways. The goal is to bring him here, figure out what he does well and see if we can find ways to get him touches where he can impact the game. We're just trying to build depth and competitiveness at each position."

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Insider shares insight into why Luther Burden III fell to second round with Bears

There was a time before the Draft when Luther Burden III was considered a potential first-round pick, a potential Top-10 pick even. But then his stock gradually fell.

His regression in the 2024 season (only 676 yards and two touchdowns, compared to the 1,212 and nine that he had in 2023) apparently was not enough to cause it, but instead intermingled with rumors that he was not fully committed in practice hard to coach - with some coaches even refusing to discipline him lest he leave and his mother and girlfriend mentioned as well.

Missouri WR coach Jacob Peeler, however, denied such notions on Chicago Sports Network's The Charter podcast. So Sports Mockery's Erik Lambert recently decided to reach out to a source about the situation, and the response was:

"He's temperamental. But all wide receivers are."

The Bears' rookie minicamp will continue into Sunday, May 11.