Who Should I Start? Rashod Bateman or Luther Burden III

Thursday, June 5, 12:03 PM

The Baltimore Ravens and wide receiver Rashod Bateman agreed to a three-year, $36.75 million contract extension on Thursday that includes $20 million guaranteed, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo. It's the second straight year that Bateman and the Ravens agreed to an extension after the team gave him a two-year, $12.87 million deal that ran through 2026 last April. Baltimore is rewarding the 25-year-old former 27th overall pick again a year later after his most productive season as a pro in 2024 after he caught 45 of his 72 targets for 756 yards and nine touchdowns in 17 regular-season games (14 starts) in his fourth year in the NFL. It was a nice showing, but Bateman's fantasy ceiling remains rather low with Zay Flowers serving as the WR1 in a run-first offense. The Ravens also now have veteran DeAndre Hopkins, which means Bateman will likely be a boom/bust fantasy commodity.

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.