A pair of unsuccessful Pittsburgh Steelers first-round picks are linking up in Seattle. After LB Devin Bush signed there earlier in the offseason, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted that CB Artie Burns is joining him, inking a one-year deal with the Seahawks. Burns spent the 2022 season with the team and has re-upped ahead of OTAs.
Burns, 28, was the Steelers’ first-round pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. By now, most fans know the story. Pittsburgh was going to take Houston’s William Jackson III but lost out when the Cincinnati Bengals snagged him one pick ahead of the Steelers. Pittsburgh pivoted to Burns, whom the team later admitted was a raw and unideal scheme fit, and his career showed it.
Burns started 32 games for Pittsburgh but struggled with his technique and confidence, routinely burned and struggling to make impact plays. According to Pro Football Reference, Burns allowed a QB rating against of 143.2. By 2019, he hardly saw the field, seeing work on special teams, before ending the year as a weekly inactive.
He signed with Chicago in 2020 but tore his ACL in the summer and missed the entire year. He returned in 2021 and found some success, starting six games with improved play. Per PFR, his QB rating against bettered slightly to 115.1, though it’s still an unappealing number.
In 2022, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks, appearing in three games and seeing 24 snaps on defense and special teams. He’ll look to latch back onto the roster this summer. For his career, Burns has played in 72 games, recording 172 tackles with four interceptions. Three of those came in his rookie year in Pittsburgh. A few years ago, we profiled what happened to Burns’ career in Pittsburgh.
Bush signed a one-year deal with Seattle earlier in the offseason. The 10th overall pick of the 2019 draft, Bush’s career was marred by a lack of physicality and 2020 ACL tear from which he struggled to recover.
