Packers Land the Next Big Thing: Elusive Receiver Selected to Take Green Bay’s Offense to the Next Level
Do the Green Bay Packers need to upgrade their receiver corps?
“We need the guy that’s proven to be a No. 1 already,” running back Josh Jacobs said at the Super Bowl.
The supply of “proven” No. 1 receivers available this offseason won’t keep up with the demand. So, the Packers could have to look to the 2025 NFL Draft.
In a seven-round mock draft for Pro Football Network, the Packers selected Missouri receiver Luther Burden III with the 23rd overall pick.
Wrote PFN’s Ian Cummings: “(Burden’s) 2024 campaign wasn’t quite as productive as expected, but he still has WR1 tools, and Josh Jacobs believes Green Bay still needs a WR1. Burden’s RAC framework emulates Packers greats of old, but he has truly elite three-level upside.”
Burden in three seasons at Missouri caught 192 passes for 2,263 yards (11.8 average) and 21 touchdowns. His best season came in 2023, when he caught 86 passes for 1,212 yards (14.1 average) and nine touchdowns. However, that fell to 61 receptions for 676 yards (11.1 average) and six touchdowns in 2024, with his yards-per-game tumbling from 93.2 to 56.3.
Pro Football Focus’ data shows Burden’s potential, though.
First and foremost, he led the nation with 30 forced missed tackles after the catch in 2024. During his final two seasons, he broke 50 tackles. During his three seasons, he averaged 7.3 yards after the catch. He’s got excellent hands, too, with 147 catches and seven drops his final two seasons.
“He is at his best with the ball in his hands,” wrote NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah in ranking Burden the No. 32 overall prospect.
Burden did most of his work out of the slot – 85.3 percent in 2024 and 81.7 percent in 2023. The Packers already have Jayden Reed for a slot player.
Burden credited a Boys & Girls Club for his rise to star athlete.
“For me to be able to have some place to, basically, save me? It’s just a blessing,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There are so many different ways to go (the wrong direction) in St. Louis and in that area. For me to have football, it just saved my life, you know? I feel like if it wasn’t for Herbert Hoover (Boys & Girls Club), I wouldn’t be in this position right now.”
The second-round pick addressed arguably the team’s biggest need, cornerback, with Florida State’s Azareye’h Thomas.
Thomas intercepted two passes in three seasons. In 2023, he had zero interceptions and 10 passes defensed. In 2024, he had one interception and five passes defensed.
PFF’s numbers tell the story, though. He allowed 17-of-33 passing for just 141 yards in 2024. He didn’t give up more than 28 yards in any game.
“Unproductive only because no one threw his way, Azareye’h Thomas has the length, fluidity, and competitive mentality to be a mainstay for Green Bay,” Cummings said.
Thomas would add more than talent. He’d add some size at 6-foot-1 1/2 and with 32 1/2-inch arms.
