The evolving role of Steelers cornerback Artie Burns continues
The first three picks for the Steelers in last year’s draft were all defensive players: nose tackle Javon Hargrave, safety Sean Davis and cornerback Artie Burns. We all knew these players would see the field at some point last season, but I don’t think we were expecting it to be as soon as it was.
How fast a corner plays in college versus how fast they play in the NFL has proven to be difficult for many players to adjust to. It can usually take a few seasons for a corner to “make a name for himself”. Just look at Vikings corner Xavier Rhodes who has made huge strides from his first season in the league to the 2016 season.
One rookie from the 2016 draft class who had his playing time increase exponentially throughout his inaugural season was Burns. Speaking only for myself, I didn’t think Burns would see much of the field in his first year. Like I said earlier, the speed at which a corner plays increases once they get to the NFL, but Burns adjusted to the tempo of the NFL well.
Burns was thrown into a defensive role almost right away. Burns’ snaps on defense went from nine in Week 1 to 42 in Week 2. But then his snaps decreased slightly, with Burns only receiving 39 snaps on defense in Week 3. In Week 4, Burns had a whopping 64 snaps on defense and added 13 special teams snaps. (To put that into perspective, the defense averaged 65 plays per game during the 2017 regular season.) By the end of the season, Burns had played 810 snaps on defense, finishing the regular season with the fifth-most snaps on defense, behind Ross Cockrell, Mike Mitchell, William Gay and Lawrence Timmons.
Although it was only his first year, and one year in the NFL doesn’t make you a “shutdown corner”, Burns made some heads runs. He had some nice pass break-ups and interceptions. He was able to keep up with some of the league’s top receivers (even with some early growing pains) and solidify his starting spot on defense. He broke a team record for interceptions by a rookie cornerback, and helped decrease the amount of passing yards the Steelers secondary was giving up through the first half of the 2016 season, going all the way back to the 2015 season (in which Pittsburgh finished second-to-last in pass defense).
Look for more Artie Burns this season. Having shown an ability to quickly learn and excel in the Steelers defense, Burns has been getting exposure to more schemes and reportedly extra opportunities at playing more press or man-on-man coverage with defensive backs coach Carnell Lake. Burns has seen his role evolve in the short time he has been in the league, but the Steelers have presented the young man opportunities to evolve even more in 2017.
With questions about the strength of the defensive backfield as OTAs kicked off, Burns appears to welcome the challenge of having an outstanding sophomore season in 2017.
