Yet another Pittsburgh Steelers unrestricted free agent has signed with a new team.
On Saturday, cornerback Artie Burns, the Steelers first-round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft out of Miami, signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bears.
Burns, who didn’t play much the last season and a half after being benched six games into the 2019 regular season, was expected to find work elsewhere this offseason after the team chose not to pick up his fifth-year option last offseason.
Burns was inactive for the Steelers final six games last season after playing just 66 total defensive snaps in the first 10 games. 62 of those snaps came against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 6 as an injury replacement.
In the 58 games that Burns played in with the Steelers he registered 149 total tackles, 27 passes defensed and four interceptions.
Burns will go down as one of the few horrible first-round picks made by Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert during his time in Pittsburgh. Burns probably could have been had in the second or third round of the 2016 NFL Draft so the Steelers eventually over-drafted him and paid for it dearly.
Burns signing with the Bears isn’t likely to produce any compensatory draft pick value for the Steelers as his contract isn’t expected to be much more than the NFL minimum.
