Luther Burden went up to secure a deep shot thrown his way, got both hands on the ball and fell awkwardly to the ground. It’s uncertain exactly what happened on impact, but it was enough to take Burden out of that rookie minicamp practice and every Bears session since.

He was making an effort play and it’s impossible to fault the No. 39 overall NFL draft pick for what happened in that situation. It was costly to his development.

Playing receiver in the NFL is hard. There’s so much mental work and timing and preciseness to route running at this stage that rookies often need time to adjust. That’s why each practice rep is important. Missing OTA and the full-squad minicamp was an unwanted development for Burden and the Bears, who are hoping he can make an instant impact.

“He misses a lot,” Johnson told reporters in a Tuesday press conference. “Any time you’re not out there, if you’re in the training room when the rest of the guys are practicing, you’re losing valuable time; valuable time with your coaches, valuable reps with your teammates, the ability to build the trust that we’re talking about.”

“It’s not just the coaching staff having trust in you, doing the right thing over and over, but it’s also your teammates. They have to be out there. They have to see you do it. They have to know that the guy to the right and the left of them are going to do the right things, and they’re going to make the plays when called upon. It’s for everybody. It’s a shame that he got dinged up and missed all that time, because for a young player, it’s really where you where you get the most reps and you can get better in a hurry that way. That’s really for every player on this team.”

This time missed has come to an end, though, with head coach Ben Johnson saying he should be ready by training camp’s start in late July. If he can stay healthy over the summer and dives into the playbook over the break, he should have the time required to get ramped up and show teammates and coaches what he’s capable of in Johnson’s offense.