Rookie Fantasy Football Outlooks For Second-Round Wide Receivers - Luther Burden, Tre Harris, Jayden Higgins

John breaks down the 2025 fantasy football outlook for the 2025 second-round wide receivers. Expert fantasy analysis for Luther Burden, Tre Harris, Jayden Higgins.

The second round of the 2025 NFL Draft saw three highly rated rookies selected -- Luther Burden III by the Chicago Bears, Tre Harris by the Los Angeles Chargers, and Jayden Higgins by the Houston Texans. Generally, receivers selected in the second round of the NFL Draft are quickly funneled into prominent roles in the offense as long as they're not terrible.

Whatever reservations you have about these three players at this point, it's undeniable that all three were highly thought of by the teams that drafted them. This year's WR class isn't nearly as strong as last year's on paper, but at a premium offensive position (the second-most important behind quarterback), there should be plenty of fantasy value to be had at some point.

All three land in different offensive situations. Luckily for them, all of them have landed in offenses that have proved to be highly productive at some point in the last two years -- or, in the case of Burden, on a team with an offensive-minded HC who has shown he can lead one of the best passing and rushing attacks in the NFL. So, let's dive into the fantasy value of these three WRs.

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Luther Burden III, Chicago Bears

I've been a harsh critic of Burden in the past. He struggles to run routes effectively, and the cut-ups of his route running showcased in practice that were sent to teams just ahead of the draft were pretty dreadful. He's not a very good separator, and isn't very good against tight press coverage from physical cornerbacks.

The Missouri Tigers were recently asked by NFL teams to share cut-ups of Luther Burden’s route running in practice for a deeper look at his route tree.

Here’s a sample of what they sent pic.twitter.com/9Zf8ecG8kJ

— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) April 21, 2025

Had Burden landed in a poor offense with a poor quarterback and an offensive coordinator who was ineffective in the passing game, his value likely would have sunk further as a fantasy football asset. And there's plenty of reason for trepidation right now -- the team already has wide receivers DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, and selected tight end Colston Loveland with the 10th overall pick in this year's draft.

However, Bears head coach Ben Johnson is renowned for being one of the best offensive-minded coaches in the NFL. His masterworks of the 2023 and 2024 Detroit Lions offenses -- some of the best the league saw in those two years -- prove that he can maximize his players' skill sets.

Still a believer in Luther Burden. Feels like too much overthink which is common this time of the year pic.twitter.com/sYytaV58Pq

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) March 23, 2025

Generally, it's a good idea to put at least a bit more of a premium on physical talent for players who are in good offensive systems. So, Burden having a few decent games here and there in his first season makes sense. For now, though, there is too much target competition for us to expect him to have a big Year 1.

Perhaps the team will move on from Moore after 2025, but for now, he could be the presumptive WR1. Odunze didn't have a great rookie season, and while many have made excuses for his lackluster performance, he just wasn't a very good separator and didn't win on enough of his routes to inspire confidence.

It really wouldn't surprise me if Loveland is the best value out of all of the Bears pass-catchers. Johnson typically authors a very run-heavy offense, but the personnel in his backfield (D'Andre Swift, who's scared of contact, and Kyle Monangai, a seventh-round pick in this year's draft) aren't game-wreckers.

How much will Colston Loveland and Luther Burden be used as rookies in the Chicago Bears offense?

Judging by how Ben Johnson used WRs and TEs in Detroit, there should be plenty of playing time for both of them pic.twitter.com/XxB1nS0G9V

— Lorin Cox (@CoxSports1) April 28, 2025

Burden's first year seems like it could be a punt for fantasy purposes. Unless he quickly beats out Moore or Odunze for their WR1/WR2 jobs, he might not see a ton of snaps.

And he has plenty of developing to do, as he's either raw or just bad as a route runner and separator. There isn't much reason to be excited about him, and he might not be worth wasting a pick on in the first 10 rounds in redraft leagues.

Tre Harris, Los Angeles Chargers

Harris is a completely different story, at least situation-wise, from Burden. I've written extensively about Harris, but I can sum up most of what I think about him by saying that I love him as a player, but not so much as an athlete. While his 4.54-second 40-yard dash wasn't a big red flag on its own, it's that he's not super explosive in and out of his route breaks.

Tre Harris Vs. LSU is why GM’s will be ALL over him in the 2025 NFL Draft:

➖7 Receptions
➖102 Yards
➖1 TD

He CLEARED 1,000+ Yards this season while essentially missing 6 games..

His healthy 13 Game Pace?

➖110 Receptions
➖1,833 Yards
➖11 TD’s

Tre Harris is 6’3, 210 lbs pic.twitter.com/A9JGqTFYET

— Austin Abbott (@AustinAbbottFF) February 17, 2025

Harris' contested target rate is particularly worrying. Receivers who have a high portion of their targets being contested tend to be some of the poorer separators. While Harris' route-running nuances are impressive on film, it's the athleticism problem that is likely causing this.

🚨🚨“His arm talent second to none”

Tre Harris on his Quarterback Justin Herbert.#BoltUp #Chargers pic.twitter.com/JwoYycV447

— The harder you beat a man the taller he stands🇺🇸 (@SeakandDestroy) April 27, 2025

Harris operated in a system designed to feed him the ball as much as possible, too, and that won't be the case in the NFL. But for all his flaws, he could still have an impressive season in Year 1.

The above clip helps shed some light on why -- Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has a premium military-grade rocket launcher for an arm. Even if Harris doesn't create huge separation on a lot of his routes, it might not be too important.

Tre Harris has some of the best man beating skills in the draft class, especially for a bigger WR.

This is why context is important. You’d look at 28.4% of his targets being contested and think he can’t separate. Wrong.

He was asked to run go’s and sits over & over & over. pic.twitter.com/HbydzTUlkC

— Luke Grant (@LukeGrant7) April 6, 2025

In addition, the routes that Harris ran were some of the routes that Herbert likes throwing the most. Arm strength helps Herbie fit passes into extremely tight windows, where the timing is more important than anything. As long as Harris can be consistent with how he wins -- and all indications are that he's been that way so far -- we could have an impressive match here.

The landing spot for Harris as a fantasy player is magnificent. While WR Ladd McConkey will certainly earn plenty of targets alongside Harris, he'll also help draw away coverage from some of the team's best defensive backs, leaving Harris with easier matchups (depending on the defensive schemes, of course).

Top 3 WR prospects in QB RTG from 2025 vs. 2024.

2025 WR Class
1. Travis Hunter - 137.8
2. Tre Harris - 124.9
3. Emeka Egbuka - 124.5

2024 WR Class
1. Brian Thomas Jr - 142.0
2. Ladd McConkey - 133.7
3. Marvin Harrison Jr - 129.3

*1st and 2nd round projected draft picks

— Elite Drafters (@Elite_Drafters) April 16, 2025

McConkey and Harris' skill sets seem to complement each other very well. And there's a vacuous gap between McConkey and the team's other (read: terrible) pass-catchers that Harris can fill in quite nicely. He should have at least 1,000 receiving yards this season if he can remain healthy, and should be a solid pick in the middle rounds of redraft fantasy leagues.

Jayden Higgins, Houston Texans

The entirety of the NFL made the extremely perplexing choice of passing on the fantastic talent that Jaylin Noel was. The result was that the Houston Texans drafted both Iowa State teammates -- WR Jayden Higgins and the aforementioned Noel. Target competition is now immediately a big issue for fantasy managers for this team.

Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins…

One torches you for a TD and the other draws a holding penalty 🧏‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/7oSQyBHqyV

— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) March 4, 2025

While WR Nico Collins is likely to remain as the WR1, it's interesting that Houston took a player who comped so closely to him (Higgins) in this year's draft. And with Collins' injury-prone nature, there's no guarantee he plays a full season in 2025. This could lead to multiple weeks of Higgins being the clear WR1 on this team.

While Noel is likely to compete for slot snaps with WR Christian Kirk, who's still a pretty solid player in his own right, Higgins has a much clearer path to fantasy relevance, and quickly. The problem is that quarterback C.J. Stroud was horrible last season. That was partly due to the offensive line playing poorly, though that problem hasn't been addressed.

Bobby Slowik having CJ Stroud & still refusing to open up the offense on obvious passing downs will never make sense.

25 carries for 46 yards last game is something you see almost nowhere else pic.twitter.com/loUmtFlefH

— Jacob (@TexansJacob) November 11, 2024

But another problem was that former offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik was a complete idiot as a play-caller, and cratered his chances of getting a head-coaching job by refusing to do much other than run the absolute heck out of the ball, no matter what the results are. Things should be different this time around.

The Texans' new OC was previously the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay. You have to think he'll call more passing plays -- especially with his new personnel. Especially if he doesn't want to get fired after Year 1. Slowik's obsession with running the ball as much as possible cost him his job.

Jayden Higgins put up a MONSTER 9.87 RAS, including a 4.47 40 at 6’4, 214lbs with a 39” vertical 🌪️

But how’s the tape? Well…

➖ elite separator
➖ 3% drop rate
➖ 56% contested catch rate
➖ career 3309 yards, 28 TDs
➖ willing blocker

1st-rd talent. Comp is Nico Collins 👀 pic.twitter.com/Lbe2lrZHmn

— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) March 4, 2025

Higgins is a stud of a receiver with plenty of development room left. His production will be dependent on how good Stroud plays and how the offense is called, but he's worth a pick in the ninth-10th rounds of redraft leagues. I imagine he clears 1,000 yards in his first season, albeit just barely. 70 catches for 950 yards and five touchdowns seems pretty reasonable, with the potential for more if Collins misses time. So probably more.

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