Bo Nix, the Denver Broncos’ first-round pick in 2024, is what the team hopes will be a franchise quarterback. Over the following three years, they will have to surround him with offensive weapons.
According to USA Today’s Curt Popejoy, one of those weapons could come in the 2025 NFL draft, where the Broncos are projected to select Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III.
According to Popejoy’s mock draft, the Carolina Panthers will pick quarterback Carson Beck first overall, while the New England Patriots will take LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell second overall.
Burden, who stands 5 feet 11 and weighs 208 pounds, already looks and plays like an NFL wide receiver, as Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said on the College Gameday Podcast on June 5.
“The biggest comparable for me is probably (San Francisco 49ers wide receiver) Deebo Samuel,” Drinkwitz stated. “I understand the great expectations, but it’s simply his ability with the ball in his hands. When we played Deebo (at South Carolina) in 2017, he returned the opening kickoff and scored two touchdowns while I was at NC State. He virtually defeated us by himself. You see how the 49ers and (head coach) Kyle Shanahan employ Deebo Samuel as a large slot receiver and in the backfield, and I believe Luther has some of those same traits.”
Burden’s 2023 Highlight Reel is Something to Behold
If you want to know why Burden is widely regarded as the best NFL wide receiver prospect for 2025, just watch his 2023 highlight tape.
It’s an astounding 9-plus minutes of Burden, only the third consensus five-star recruit in program history, annihilating defenses with 86 receptions, 1,212 receiving yards, and 9 touchdowns.
Burden was awarded All-SEC and Associated Press All-American as Missouri had its greatest season in a decade, finishing 11-2 and winning the Cotton Bowl over Ohio State. In 2023, Burden had six games with more than 100 receiving yards and another two with more than 90 receiving yards.
Burden had a season-high 177 receiving yards on 10 catches in a 34-27 win over Memphis, but his greatest game of the year may have come in a 30-27 victory over Kansas State, when he had 7 receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
Broncos: No 1,000-yard receivers since 2019
The Broncos are now experiencing numerous types of streaks that NFL teams would prefer to avoid, including no playoff berths since 2016 and no 1,000-yard rushers or receivers since 2019.
Courtland Sutton led the Broncos with 59 receptions for 772 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023; he is also the last receiver to have over 1,000 yards in a single season for the Broncos, with 72 receptions for 1,112 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns and one Pro Bowl appearance.
Sutton has been sitting out of summer exercises in 2024 due to a contract disagreement, but he declared on June 6 that he will attend minicamp.
The Broncos not only drafted Nix as a quarterback in 2024, but they also selected his favorite wide receiver in the fourth round, Troy Franklin. Franklin was a two-time All-Pacific-12 selection at Oregon, finishing his career with 81 receptions, 1,383 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns.
