Missouri's Burden to declare for 2025 NFL Draft

Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden will declare for the 2025 NFL Draft, he told ESPN's Pete Thamel.

The junior wideout will forgo his senior season and skip the team's bowl game to prepare for the draft, Thamel adds.

Burden is expected to be selected in the first round. He has 147 catches for 1,888 receiving yards and six touchdowns over the last two years with the Tigers.

"I feel like this is the best time to enter the draft," Burden told Thamel. "I'm confident in myself and what I can do at the next level. I'm ready for the next step."

He added: "They're getting a person who can obviously change the whole program for the better ... and they're getting the best playmaker in the country."

Burden is considered one of the top three wide receivers in the draft, along with Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan. He's listed at 5-foot-11, 205 pounds and can beat defenses deep while taking short passes for huge gains.

The St. Louis native chose the Tigers over schools such as Georgia and Alabama as a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He'll leave Missouri with the sixth-most receiving yards in program history.