{"id":736519,"date":"2026-02-07T21:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736519\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T21:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:22:21","slug":"revisiting-the-bears-2025-draft-second-round-pick-39-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736519\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting the Bears 2025 Draft: Second Round Pick 39"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We all know it takes more than a single season to accurately assess the success of any draft class. Our own Josh Sunderbruch does a phenomenal job of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windycitygridiron.com\/2025\/4\/18\/24409313\/the-updated-draft-research-project-prospect-nfl-player-round-cba-rookie-wage-scale-cap-pro-bowl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">explaining why this is<\/a> and looking back at a more reasonable benchmark. But that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t take a moment to look back and see how the early returns are looking, and if any selection would have been better spent elsewhere. What better class to assess than one of the more impactful ones we have seen in Chicago for some time? In this series, I will go through each pick in each round and assign what I believe to be the best pick, worst pick and players that could have been selected instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Olamide Zaccheaus already on the roster, nobody expected the Bears to select a WR in the first two days of the draft. But then the former Missouri Tiger fell into their laps at pick 39 and Bears\u2019 GM Ryan Poles pounced. Like the Loveland pick, Burden III may have felt like a luxury pick, but before the end of the season, both appeared to be a cornerstone of the Bears\u2019 offense. Displaying sticky hands and electric playmaking ability after the catch, not only did Burden III post the highest catch percentage on the entire team (78.3) but he also had the longest yards per target (10.9), long catch (65 yards pictured here against Dallas) and led the team in receiving yards in four games including three of the final five of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">I was a huge fan of the pick and even more of a fan in retrospect. Seeing him play with the explosiveness he displayed while also having an edge to him endeared him to Bears fans all over. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and loves his teammates. I predict he will lead the team in receiving yards sooner than later and go down in the record books as an all time Bear great. Much like his rookie counterpart, Colston Loveland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Alfred Collins, DT &#8211; San Francisco 49ers pick 43<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">JT Tuimoloau, EDGE &#8211; Indianapolis Colts pick 45<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Aireontae Ersery, LT &#8211; Houston Texans pick 48<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Nic Scourton, EDGE &#8211; Carolina Panthers pick 51<\/p>\n<p>What about you? Was Burden III the best pick at 39 in your opinion as well? Sound off in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all know it takes more than a single season to accurately assess the success of any draft&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,743,741,742,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-736519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicago-bears-draft","12":"tag-chicago-bears-news","13":"tag-chicago-bears-roster","14":"tag-chicagobears","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116031452185452844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}