Who Should I Start? Adam Thielen or Luther Burden III

Friday, May 2, 12:02 PM

Carolina Panthers veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen said that he talked with his family, and they wanted him to play in 2025. He plans to go through a similar process after this season, which is the final year of his contract. Depending on how the 34-year-old feels and what his family thinks after the 2025 campaign, Thielen could hang up his cleats and retire. He's returning for a third season in Carolina after playing in a career-low 10 games in 2024 due to a hamstring injury. In those 10 games, he caught 48 of his 62 targets for 615 yards and five touchdowns. He should continue to be a trusted weapon for young quarterback Bryce Young out of the slot this year, but the addition of first-round rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan will surely make Thielen harder to trust as a WR3/flex in fantasy based on volume alone like he was in 2023, when he recorded the third 1,000-yard season of his career on 103 targets.

Thursday, July 10, 1:23 PM

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson seems confident that rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III (undisclosed) will be good to go for the start of training camp later this month, according to The Athletic's Kevin Fishbain. Burden was unavailable to take part in any of OTAs or minicamp this offseason after the Bears took him at No. 39 overall in April's NFL draft. The 21-year-old pass-catcher lost valuable development time heading into his first year in the NFL, but the good news is he should be ready to go when training camp kicks off this summer. Burden will be competing for the WR3 role in Chicago behind DJ Moore and second-year wideout Rome Odunze. The Bears also have tight ends Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland, too, so there are plenty of mouths to feed in head coach Ben Johnson's offense. Burden was very productive in college, but don't expect a heavy workload in his first year in the NFL.