Welcome back to the 2025 Dynasty Rookie Rankings Battle. While last week we focused on the receivers who profiled best to the X, this week we’re going to sort out the crowded second tier of receivers. Players like Luther Burden III, Emeka Egbuka, and Matthew Golden will be vying to hear their names called in the latter half of the first round, but can Tre Harris spoil their party?
This article will rate each player using the categories in the Get Better at Dynasty Series, copied here for your convenience. Recall that the highlighting in the template reflects the relative importance of each trait, whereas in the actual prospect report it represents how strong they are in that skill.
Luther Burden III (Missouri)
6’0” 206 lbs
Widely considered the likely WR1 in this year’s cycle for much of the offseason, Luther Burden III saw his draft stock dip after lackluster production his junior season. While detractors will point to his heavy reliance on designed targets this past season, supporters are quick to point out that was a necessity because of poor quarterback play.
In order to get to the bottom of this, I watched his sophomore tape first before moving on to the troublesome junior season. While I was expecting to love the sophomore tape based off of Burden flashing during live game watches, unfortunately the reality is even his “best” tape paints a murky picture for his projection to the NFL.
With Burden, live game watches or even cut-ups tell one story, but the all-22 tells another. After earning a target, Burden’s tools range from fine to excellent. He makes tough catches away from his frame, plucks low balls when coming across the middle of the field, and is the best run-after-catch threat out of all the receivers with likely Day 1 or Day 2 draft capital.
The issue is, everything on Burden’s tape that happens before earning a target is concerning. His “big boy” routes, those that actually appear frequently in NFL offenses, are extremely rounded or seriously lacking in effort. The blocking effort is the worst of the receivers we’ve scouted so far. And finally a concerning amount of his production came on designed targets or deep slot routes that don’t usually correlate to NFL success.
Unfortunately, I’m deeply concerned by Burden’s ability to stay on the field as a full service wide receiver, beyond being either a slot-only player or a package player.
Intermediate Usage
Burden rarely produced in his area. Almost all of his production came from designed touches behind the line of scrimmage, or on slot fades, which rack up yards and touchdowns at the college level but that often fail to translate to the NFL.
One notable exception is Malik Nabers, but he put up lots of outstanding tape on NFL route concepts in addition to the otherworldly deep slot production.
Particularly on in-breakers, Burden’s routes were extremely rounded and run without any pacing, which is not a good recipe at all for creating separation. Burden was sometimes successful on out-breaking routes when the corner was leveraged wrong and had no help to the outside, but that’s a pretty specific subset of routes.
Those times that Burden is trying to be deceptive in his release, he manages to send the corner the wrong way, but other times he lets himself lose too much speed setting up his break, and the corner is easily able to stay in phase.
Burden was targeted on a game-losing interception where he egregiously rounded an out-breaker and the corner was able to jump the route. That level of effort and attention to detail on a “gotta have it” snap is an extremely concerning indicator.
Whie Burden is willing to play through contact when trying to get behind a corner, he didn’t particularly use his hands or snap off his route in order to get away cleanly from grabbier defenders.
As far as competence at the catch point, Burden is a willing hands catcher who has put nice catches away from his frame on tape, including through contact. However, he doesn’t always use these good habits, as sometimes he’ll body catch or alligator arm a ball over the middle.
Burden also has a couple reps on tape where he made a good move to get open during the scramble drill and caught an explosive target. On the other hand, his effort in the scramble drill was usually lacking.
Short Usage
Burden doesn’t show much attention to detail when running routes against zones. He tended to essentially run his route at 75% speed since there was nobody in phase with him to run away from. He at least is a huge threat running down the seam against zone.
When running downfield, throws into Burden’s leverage are very productive, as he showed good body control and adjustments. It was a little too easy to play through his leverage when he was facing the quarterback or coming back to the ball.
Run After Catch
Not only is this Burden’s primary skill, but it’s one of the single most outstanding skills in the entire receiver class. He has some of the best contact balance I’ve ever scouted in a wide receiver prospect, often absorbing contact and continuing at full speed.
Thanks to the combination of his movement ability and contact balance, he’s extremely hard to tackle short of the endzone when he has a head of steam, which bodes well for his touchdown production at the NFL level.
As far as tackle evasion, Burden has an excellent dead-leg move that helps him beat the first man. He’s also fast with the ball in his hands, though not quite the angle-eraser some of the fastest receivers are. He is completely capable of hitting a crease and housing a short throw.
Deep Usage
Burden was very effective running deep routes out of the slot. In particular, he’s most comfortable running up the seam or getting outside leverage on a slot corner and taking a slot fade to the pylon. Unfortunately, this kind of deep usage has tended not to translate to NFL success.
While Burden was guilty of running his breaking routes at half speed, he accelerates extremely quickly when trying to beat a slot corner deep. Unlocking that effort at all times would go a long way towards becoming a star player.
When lined up outside, which didn’t happen all too often, Burden showed good body control along the sidelines and made some tough catches with late hands. I thought he didn’t fight through contact quite as much as he could have.
Burden could stand to improve his throttling and stacking to more consistently create and sustain advantages outside, rather than relying on wins at the catch point.
Hands
For the most part, Burden has good hands. When required, he can make tough catches away from his frame. He also tends to be a hands-catcher. He could stand to clean up a couple cases where he hopped in order to body catch slightly high balls.
Coachability
Burden loafed on clear-out routes where he knew he wasn’t getting a target. Coaches will hate this habit if it persists at the NFL level. The most recent prospect to show this kind of disparity in effort between his first-read routes and everything else was Adonai Mitchell, who had a tough rookie season in Indianapolis while learning how to be a professional.
Additionally, Burden developed a bit of a reputation for having negative body language on the sidelines and on the field. There is a fine line between being a squeaky wheel who demands the ball and being a player for whom the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Burden needs to develop a lot to avoid being the latter.
Running Route to Correct Depth
Burden showed poor attention to detail against zone coverage and severely rounded his breaking routes. Failing to get to landmarks with precision often leads to rookie receivers ending up in their coach’s doghouse. When the quarterback has to throw to a spot on a timing route, he needs Burden to be in the correct place on-time, which didn't happen often enough at Missouri.
Blocking
Here and there, you can find reps where Burden blocks with some effort. However, too often he either shirked his blocking assignment completely, or executed a perfunctory shove before letting his assignment make a play on the ball carrier.
I don’t foresee Burden staying on the field in two receiver sets, which severely caps the upside of a player who is not very NFL-ready and already primarily an upside play.
Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State)
6’1” 202 lbs
I’m pretty sure I got whiplash going from Luther Burden’s tape to Emeka Egbuka’s. While both players project as slot-only players, or close enough to it, their playing styles could not be more different. Egbuka is a consistent, clean player who can fit right into any NFL offense, but I agree with those who think the star-level upside is limited.
Intermediate Usage
For the most part, Egbuka is extremely crisp running his routes with efficient footwork. There is however a really big difference between when Egbuka has the time to set up his route vs when he’s trying to snap off a route against tight coverage.
Egbuka is at his best running in-breakers and out-breakers from the slot against off coverage and zones. Fortunately for him, that should be a lot of his routes at the NFL level. However, he actually surprised me by struggling to change direction when he needed to be sudden and snappy against tight coverage.
In particular, Egbuka struggled to change direction quickly on a smattering of whip routes I saw him run, and generally struggled to snap off routes against corners who were in his face during his stem. This, among other reasons, contributed to him being much better in the slot and not overly dynamic out wide. To be fair though, his yards per route run numbers out wide were very good, so he's not lost out there.
Egbuka was excellent at hands-catching balls away from his frame, though he wasn’t tested on his ability to make acrobatic catches down the sideline. He’s tough and reliable over the middle of the field, which will be his primary role in the NFL.
When running routes outside, I thought Egbuka would have benefitted from pacing his routes more deceptively, as well as by being more deceptive with his head and shoulders. Corners didn’t seem surprised by his breaks in these cases. Additionally, his first three steps after his break aren’t overly explosive, so he couldn’t put as much distance between him and the corner as I would have liked to see.
Egbuka consistently rewarded Will Howard for throwing into his leverage, and Howard in turn trusted him to hang on to the ball in some tough spots. In addition to catching the ball through contact, Egbuka was also able to get to his landmarks despite physicality and to dish out contact at the top of his stem.
Egbuka is especially good at getting beyond the first zone defender and then curling behind him when he’s in the defensive back’s blind spot, which resulted in lots of 15-yard completions in the middle of the field.
Short Usage
Egbuka is excellent against zone. He gets to his landmarks quickly and maintains his spacing from the defensive backs. Because he’s a hands catcher who doesn’t fear contact, his leverage is reliable to throw into.
Run After Catch
Egbuka is dangerous running into a crease, with solid speed and good vision in the second level. He’s not overly dynamic at avoiding tacklers, and I thought his screen usage wasn’t all that productive. He does have good lateral agility to work to the creases.
Deep Usage
Egbuka can get down the seam in a hurry, and he was extremely focused catching slightly underthrown balls against late-arriving defenders. However, he is not the type to beat and stack a corner out wide.
Hands
Egbuka is yet another hands-catcher in a class pleasantly full of them. He catches out in front of his body and is reliable on balls that are thrown slightly high or slightly behind him. He doesn’t have a huge catch radius.
Coachability / Running Routes to the Correct Depth
Egbuka is great at getting to his landmarks through crowds or through contact. He’s precise against zones and has a very mature, reliable play style. He’s disciplined at maintaining his spacing against zones. His coaches rave about his competitiveness.
Blocking
It’s become really fashionable to rave about Egbuka’s blocking, but honestly I think it’s just ~fine. On the one hand, his blocking effort is solid, and he's put reps on tape where he embarrasses guys.
On the other hand, he does not get push when blocking, and he tends to plant his hands on his assignment’s shoulder pads, which makes him really easy to shed. There were a couple times I thought he lacked effort and let his assignment make a play on the ball carrier.
Matthew Golden (Texas)
5’11 191 lbs
It took a long time for Matthew Golden to emerge as a team’s top receiver, first putting up mediocre production at Houston before transferring to Texas and finally emerging as the Longhorns’ featured option late in the season.
Every analytics-based model out there will point to Golden’s production as a massive red flag, but how do we weigh the fact that he looked so effective when finally given a chance?
While Golden is efficient at attacking off-coverage or making defenders pay for being leveraged wrong, he sometimes fails to come up with answers when the defensive back is playing up in his face or leveraged correctly.
On tape at least, Golden looks like a high-end WR2 who profiles well to the Z receiver position. He’s missing the counters and trump cards, both in terms of technique and dynamic athleticism, to beat great defense and reward a coach for running an offense through him.
My analogy for this is that every NBA team needs somebody who can score against great defense, but most of their better role players are types who can attack efficiently with an advantage. Golden is more of the latter than the former.
Intermediate Usage
Golden’s footwork is extremely crisp and efficient when attacking off coverage, both on in-breakers and out-breakers. He could stand to be more deceptive, as sometimes even his more crisp breaks got jumped.
Particularly when cutting off of his right plant leg, he gets good explosion/separation on the first three steps out of his break. He’s willing to use his hands or snap off his route sharply in order to keep himself clean against grabby corners.
When facing press coverage, something he didn’t have to do too often, his release was sometimes overly choppy. Other times it was fairly efficient and he got into his route on time. Overall though, I would say he struggled on “gotta have it” snaps when facing aggressive man coverage.
Against Georgia, despite putting up an outstanding stat line, in overtime he struggled to uncover against man coverage. I would say overall Golden is a good route runner but is missing some answers against good defensive pressure.
At the catch point, Golden is very capable of high pointing and hands-catching away from his frame, something that separates him from the Z receivers in the league who aren’t difference makers.
He does tend to body catch below his shoulders, and for this reason throwing into his leverage isn’t quite as reliable as you’d like. It was a little too easy to play through him and break up a pass.
In the scramble drill, Golden is aware and shows solid effort adjusting his route and getting deep, offering an outlet for an explosive play.
Short Usage
Golden could stand to be more aware against zone. He does know where and how to sit in the soft spots, which is most of the battle, but he’s missing that last 10% to make minor adjustments away from the defense to keep the throwing window clean.
Throws into Golden’s leverage are not the most reliable, due to his thinner frame and tendency to body catch on throws below his shoulders.
Golden can run a nice comeback route. In some cases, when he doesn’t pace the route well and is running his stem at full speed, it takes him a couple false steps before he can make progress back towards the line of scrimmage.
Run After Catch
Golden’s run after catch isn’t overly dynamic. He has solid footspeed, but certainly not the 4.29 speed he allegedly showed at the NFL scouting combine. Keep in mind, while the end of the run is laser-timed, the start is manual based on when the runner drops his signal arm.
Deep Usage
Golden is plenty fast getting deep, and unlike some of the less consistent deep threats in the NFL, he can bring in tough passes at the catch point. However, the alleged 4.29 speed does not quite show here either, as defensive backs can get back into phase with him even if he gets an initial advantage.
He’s fine but not great at the nuanced parts of winning deep, such as throttling to gain an initial advantage and then stacking the defensive back to prevent a recovery.
Hands
Golden’s hands are fine on the routine stuff and he’s better at the catch point than most receivers in his archetype. I did see a couple drops and balls that he could have brought in with a more aggressive hands-catch.
Coachability
As far as I’ve heard, everybody around the Texas football program raves about the kind of person Golden is. He’s improved a lot over the last couple years, and may keep improving having only recently turned 21 years old.
Running Routes to Correct Depth
Golden gets to his landmarks quickly and on-time, showing willingness to play through contact. Sometimes his release is too choppy and slows him down in this regard.
Blocking
Golden was very rarely asked to block, even during Texas’s CFB playoff run, and has a slight frame. I don't think he projects to be all that good here.
Tre Harris (Ole Miss)
6’2” 205 lbs
Tre Harris is the most confusing wide receiver prospect of this cycle. While his tape evaluation is incredibly easy, his projection is excruciatingly hard. Harris was asked to run an incredibly simple route tree with lots of easy production, but he was outstanding at everything he was asked to do.
However, we have to ponder very seriously whether this production will translate to the NFL. Harris almost exclusively ran a pared-down vertical route tree, i.e. hitches (tons of them), go routes, double moves, slants, and posts.
Harris was otherworldly productive his final season at Ole Miss, eclipsing 1,000 receiving yards despite missing five games with a groin/hip injury and dominating yards per route run metrics. But our job is to figure out if Tre Harris projects more like a D.K. Metcalf or a Terrace Marshall. Doing a great job on a middle school route tree does not necessarily project to NFL production, but in Harris’s case there is hope.
Much like watching Bo Nix’s tape last year, if you slog through the dozens of Mickey Mouse plays, you’ll be rewarded with a glimpse of excellent execution on tasks that matter on Sundays.
Intermediate Usage
If you’ve been following along, you’ll recall that Harris’s production was almost all short (hitches) or deep (go routes, posts, double moves). So, it’s very hard to grade him highly in this area. However, those couple times he was asked to run out-breakers, he actually looked really good.
In particular, there were two occasions I saw last year in which Harris was asked to run a blaze out, a route that starts like a post before out-breaking towards the sideline. Running this route efficiently requires great footwork and hip mobility. Ladies and gentlemen, Tre Harris snatched ankles both times he was asked to run this route.
In general, Harris seems to know what he’s supposed to do in order to win in the intermediate area, but he doesn’t always get there. His releases are hit and miss, and he sometimes rounds cuts. As far as his releases go, we don’t have much to work with because Harris faced mostly off coverage.
There are times when he’s running slants that I want him to plant and explode better, rather than running a monotone route. Corners were able to jump it at times.
Short Usage
Harris's short production was limited almost exclusively to hitches. In my grading card, I’m going to mark “comeback route” as positive. Although he wasn’t asked to run this route, I’m gonna project that he can run it well because of his ability to sink his hips and because of how much corners respected his ability to get deep. They gave him lots of cushion to turn back towards his quarterback.
Harris was rarely asked to beat zone coverage and did not display great zone instincts. Those times he beat zone were cases where his route split the safeties.
Run After Catch
Harris was used on bubble screens fairly frequently and made the first man miss more often than you’d expect. Despite not running an outstanding 40 yard dash, he is very difficult to catch from behind on a football field.
Harris has some grown man strength, and tended to fall forward for extra yards, on occasion breaking multiple tackles.
Deep Usage
Despite being naturally very strong, I think Harris left a little bit to be desired at the catch point. He’s great at adjusting to the ball on back shoulder throws, but I was hoping to see him go up and get the ball. Instead, he tended to fade when the corner was in phase and playing physical defense, tending to try a one-handed catch rather than contorting his body and plucking the ball.
On occasion, I thought Harris’s ball tracking left something to be desired, and he lacked a second gear to hunt down slightly overthrown deep balls.
Hands
While Harris is a hands catcher who is comfortable high-pointing the ball and catching it away from his frame, his consistency could have been better. There are a couple bad drops on his tape.
Running Route to Correct Depth
He ran so few breaking routes that your guess is as good as mine. He’s solid as far as getting to his landmarks through physicality.
Blocking
I think Harris will be fine at the NFL level. I saw some reps where he stayed engaged and blocked to the whistle. He’s also naturally strong and gets more push than the other wide receivers in this series.
Overall
Emeka Egbuka
Profile
Egbuka is a plug-and-play slot receiver in any NFL offense. He should rack up PPR points against zones and have just enough deep juice for spike weeks. His fantasy value will depend a lot on whether he stays on the field in two receiver sets.
While Egbuka didn’t overly impress me when lined up outside, he still contributed and earned targets. Combined with his blocking, I think he can get up to 80% of snaps and be a legit fantasy asset.
Best Case
Egbuka is the kind of player who could go for 100 receptions if he's drafted into a high-paced offense. Albeit with less gaudy yardage and touchdown totals than the very best players at the position.
Worst Case
Egbuka turns into a slot-only player and becomes a better real-life football player than fantasy player.
Matthew Golden
Profile
Golden profiles as a high-end WR2, with potentially some boom or bust fantasy performances ahead of him. He doesn’t quite have the skills and physical tools to be a consistent offensive hub, but he projects as an efficient player who can be inserted into starting lineups on a weekly basis, even if WR1 outcomes aren’t likely for him.
Best Case
Golden slides right in as the Z receiver on a team with an attention-hogging WR1. He produces a bit like a Jordan Addison, except Golden can safely operate a motor vehicle.
I’m not overly worried about the production profile to date. He only recently turned 21 years old, and has already improved a ton over the last year.
Worst Case
A poorly run team overdrafts Golden based on his 40 time and asks him to be the WR1 on a team with a bad quarterback. His fantasy production would be extremely inconsistent at that point.
Luther Burden
Profile
Early on in his career, Burden projects as a slot-only player who needs designed touches to sustain a productive fantasy football season. He needs a lot of growth, both in terms of his route running and effort, to become a full time player.
Later in his career, Burden could be an elite flanker-slot hybrid who stays on the field at all times and breaks explosive plays left and right. We’re just really far from there. At cost, I’ll be targeting other players.
Best Case
Burden definitely has star-level upside. He is genuinely dynamic enough to not only earn designed targets but also to be given chances to get on the field and run real routes. He’s talented and intuitive enough.
Worst Case
The more conventional worst case is that Burden’s rookie season will be a slow burn as he doesn’t start off as a full time player.
The true downside case is that Burden could end up in a coach’s doghouse and become radioactive for dynasty.
Tre Harris
Profile
Harris is strong and dynamic enough to be a team’s X receiver. However, he might start off slowly as he learns an NFL route tree. I think Harris is missing some of the “above and beyond” traits that would make him a star player, but I really like his chances of learning a full route tree and becoming a team’s lower end WR1, like a Courtland Sutton.
Best Case
I think there is a legitimate chance that Harris rolls into camp and shows his coaches he’s willing and able to run NFL routes. I’m projecting based off of a really small sample size, but he seems to understand how to get off the line of scrimmage, sink his hips, and use his footwork efficiently.
I think the most likely best case is that Harris is a little dependent on big plays early, but then he really becomes a well-rounded player over the rest of his rookie contract and looks like a steal.
Worst Case
Harris could completely flame out, like the many wide receiver prospects before him who ran limited route trees in college. You’ll probably be drafting Harris at a point where nobody cares about floor anymore, so honestly I'm willing to live with that.
Low floor aside, I do think Harris’s upside is worth a swing pretty much anywhere after the Day Two running backs. This might work out to an early second round value in my final 2025 dynasty rookie rankings.