The NFL season seems far away after the NFL Draft finished up in late April, but mandatory minicamp is already underway as teams across the league see what they’re made of with a few months until the games get underway. The Chicago Bears will be one of the teams to watch in 2025 with new head coach Ben Johnson leading the way and some new weapons to help out Caleb Williams on offense.
Two of those weapons are talented players that the Bears took early in the draft, but both were strangely absent from Tuesday’s minicamp practice. Both tight end Colston Loveland, a first-round pick, and Luther Burden III, a second-round pick, missed the practice.
They were not the only ones. There was a lengthy list of players that were not at practice, via Zack Pearson of BearReport.
In addition to the two rookies, Braxton Jones, Kyler Gordon and TJ Edwards all did not practice, among others. However, that should all get sorted out soon enough as the Bears look to make a push back toward the playoffs.
Chicago will want to see Loveland out there sooner rather than later after it selected him with the No. 10 overall pick in the first round. The Bears surprised some with the decision to pick Loveland, who came out of Michigan, over Penn State tight end Tyler Warren. However, it is a position of need for the Bears and it’s easy to see Loveland filling a similar role for Johnson as Sam LaPorta did in Detroit.
Burden is a bit more of a wild card, but he is talented and explosive coming out of Missouri. While this Bears wide receiver room was talented last year, out lacked an element of juice that Burden is certainly capable of bringing to the field. Chicago picked him in the second round with the No. 39 overall pick, so expectations are a little bit lower for him, but he still has the potential to be an impact player.
When Colston Loveland and Luther Burden do show up to minicamp, the focus will immediately turn to helping develop as much chemistry as possible with Williams before the season gets going in the fall.
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