The final pick traded to the Bears as part of the Bryce Young trade has been used.
The Bears selected wide receiver Luther Burden III with the 39th overall pick on Friday night. He joins tight end Colston Loveland as rookie additions to the offense ahead of Ben Johnson’s first year as their head coach.
Carolina traded wide receiver DJ Moore, their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks, and their 2023 and 2025 second-round picks to the Bears in order to move up to the first overall pick in 2023. The 2024 first-rounder turned out to be the first overall pick, which the Bears used to take quarterback Caleb Williams. They also added tackle Darnell Wright and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson with picks they received in that deal.
Burden had 61 catches for 676 yards and six touchdowns last season. He joins Moore and 2024 first-rounder Rome Odunze in the Bears receiving corps.
In the run-up to the draft, an old clip of Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan saying he didn’t watch game film surfaced. Some questioned whether it would be wise to draft such a player. McMillan said the person who said that was younger and dumber than the person the Panthers took with the eighth overall pick on Thursday night.
McMillan said at his introductory press conference with the Panthers that he has long since learned the importance of the mental side of the game and recognizes the importance of watching film.
“I definitely have grown, I definitely have matured since that. I feel like I wouldn’t be here before you today without loving this game and watching film. I was just a young and dumb freshman. I definitely have matured,” McMillan said.
McMillan thinks he’s proven what kind of player he is with his play at Arizona. The Panthers obviously thought McMillan’s comments were a non-issue.
The Panthers set an NFL record for points allowed in a single season last year, but they didn’t add a defensive piece with their top pick in this year’s draft.
Wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was the team’s choice with the eighth overall pick and General Manager Dan Morgan said on Thursday night that the wideout will “add a different dimension to our offense.” That will help quarterback Bryce Young’s continued development and a better offense should lead to less pressure on the defense, but Morgan went on to make it clear that the Panthers plan to address that side of the ball as well.
“It’s still a need, and you know we have eight more picks,” Morgan said, via the team’s website. “We wanted to add the best player, we wanted to follow the board, follow our board of who we thought was going to help us the most up there. Again, we got our guy, and we’re excited about it. . . . We did attack our defensive needs through free agency. And again, we have eight picks left, and our board has a lot of defensive guys on there as well. So, it’s definitely not something that we’re going to neglect.”
The Panthers are currently set to wait until No. 57 to make their next selection, but having eight picks might give them enough capital to jump on the board earlier than expected.
The Carolina Panthers have just given Bryce Young a big-play wide receiver.
Tetairoa McMillan of Arizona went to Carolina with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
McMillan was a three-year starter at Arizona, where he averaged 16.1 yards per catch over the course of his career and topped 1,300 yards each season as a sophomore and a junior. He may be this draft’s best pure receiver prospect.
Down the stretch last year Young started to show promise in coach Dave Canales’ offense. Now Young has another playmaker to throw to.
The Panthers have the spot in line directly before their division rivals in New Orleans.
And the Panthers are trying to give it to someone who’d like to leapfrog the Saints.
We’re told that the Panthers are aggressively trying to get out of the No. 8 spot. It requires someone who wants to trade up, and to give fair enough compensation to make it a win-win proposition.
They’ll be on the clock soon. We’ll see what they manage to do.
