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Luther Burden III set to miss some time with a groin injury, depleting Bears’ already thin WR depth

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Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III is expected to miss some time as he recovers from a groin injury, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Burden III went down awkwardly in practice on Saturday and was seen leaving early with a trainer. While the good news was that the wideout was able to walk off under his own power, he was still walking gingerly.

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It looked like a lower-body issue, and now we know it is a groin injury. These issues can be problematic and easily aggravated, so the Bears may be a little more cautious with his recovery. The good news is that Chicago’s regular season start is over a month away, giving Burden III time to recover.

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The biggest problem in the interim is that without Burden III, the Bears’ wide receiver depth looks very thin.

Chicago opted to trade away veteran wide receiver DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills in the offseason. This put a lot of pressure and faith into the Bears’ young wide receiver foundation in Rome Odunze and Burden III.

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With Burden III now sidelined, Chicago has a glaring lack of depth at wide receiver. Odunze is clearly the top wide receiver, but currently he is joined by Kalif Raymond, Zavion Thomas, Jahdae Walker and Scotty Miller as the best options at the position.

Odunze is heading into his third season. Last year, he played in 12 games and finished with 661 yards and six touchdowns.

Raymond spent the last five years with the Detroit Lions, but jumped ship and signed with the Bears this offseason. The 5-8 receiver played in 15 games last year, but finished with 289 yards and a touchdown.

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The Bears drafted Thomas in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He spent his final two years of his college career at LSU after beginning at Mississippi State. Thomas played in 13 games for the Tigers last season and finished with 488 yards and four touchdowns.

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Walker went undrafted last year, but landed with Chicago. He saw action in nine games and finished his rookie season with 87 yards and two touchdowns on six receptions.

Miller is another veteran option for Chicago. He spent the last two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Miller played in 13 games last year and had just 62 yards on nine receptions.

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The Bears’ wide receiving group was already expected to be inexperienced, but losing the talent of Burden III for the foreseeable future definitely hurts.

Quarterback Caleb Williams will rely on Odune, running back D’Andre Swift and tight ends Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet as his main options while Burden III is sidelined unless one of the depth wide receivers steps up.

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Sports

“They like seeing us run good”

Published

45 seconds ago

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9 August 2026

By

Carson Hocevar is in the middle of a breakthrough NASCAR Cup Series season. The Spire Motorsports driver will enter Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 fifth in the Cup standings, sitting ahead of all Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) cars.

Hocevar took his first Cup Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway in April. He beat Chris Buescher by 0.114 seconds in a three-lap shootout to get his first series win in his 91st start. He also won his second pole of the 2026 Cup season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and led 31 laps before finishing ninth.

Ahead of qualifying for the NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway, the 23-year-old broke down Spire’s close technical relationship with HMS.

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“Hendrick and engine shop and everything they like seeing us run really good. I know Mr. H does it because he likes to see seven cars rather than just four and have shots,” Carson Hocevar said.

“They look at it like a seven car deal because of the close alliance and everything that they just get more shots to hopefully win races because it has Hendrick engines in it, Hendrick pit crews, and people he employs are on those cars. And obviously, Jeff’s like a son to him per se.”

Carson Hocevar is ahead of all four HMS drivers, including Chase Elliott, who sits sixth in the standings. Kyle Larson is eighth, William Byron 12th and Alex Bowman 29th.

“A live look at what me and my friends think is funny” – Carson Hocevar on his hour-long posting spree

Carson Hocevar (77) on the pit wall during qualifying for the Brickyard 400. - Source: ImagnCarson Hocevar (77) on the pit wall during qualifying for the Brickyard 400. - Source: Imagn
Carson Hocevar (77) on the pit wall during qualifying for the Brickyard 400. – Source: Imagn

Earlier in the week, Carson Hocevar was busy sharing multiple random thoughts. He also claimed that he lost a bet and had to tweet every 30 seconds.

On Saturday, the No. 77 driver said the mass posting spree was not part of any serious social media strategy. He was bored and having fun with his friends.

“Just started tweeting for an hour of how it used to be in the old Twitter. We had like Ratatouille up and we were making Ratatouille bits, and so I just started live-tweeting. You just basically got a live look at what me and my friends think is funny for an hour,” Hocevar said.

Meanwhile, Hocevar posted a 23.655-second lap around the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway and qualified 18th. Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson qualified second, Byron 19th, Bowman 30th and Elliott 32nd.

The Iowa Corn 350 is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

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