Film Room: The Potential of Artie Burns

The Case For Artie

First thing’s first, Artie brings an attitude/brashness to each game that would fit right in alongside Marcus Peters. He’s always in the face of opposing receivers, celebrating big hits with teammates, and generally not lacking in confidence in anyway whatsoever. In this regard, Artie Burns would amalgamate seamlessly into the Chiefs defense.

Next, Burns’ athleticism jumps out at you when watching the tape; he’s not one of those players that looks completely different when he puts the pads on.

Here we see Burns in straight man coverage on a go route, with no safety help over the top. Unfortunately, the clip doesn’t give us a good look at his actions at the line and his hip flip, but what we do see here is a corner that has absolutely no troubles running stride-for-stride with his man downfield. The entire way downfield, Burns stays firmly in the receiver’s hip pocket.

This brings us to the area where Burns’ athleticism really shines through – his ball skills. In the play above, Burns is tracking the ball almost the moment it leaves the QB’s hand. Getting eyes on the ball so early allows him to track it phenomenally well in the air, and time his deflections/jumps with wide receiver like precision – exactly like he did on that play.

Burns has a Marcus Peters like quality to him where if he sees the ball, you can bet he’s going to get a hand on the ball at the very least. And in more than a few cases, he got both hands on the ball:

That, ladies and gentleman, is a cornerback making a catch that would be considered impressive for a wide receiver. A lot of what makes Burns a tantalizing prospect is contained in that play:

• He plays up to his size and gets into receivers at the line of scrimmage when in press-man coverage (I docked some marks here for being overly-aggressive as the receiver went downfield).
• He tracks the ball supremely well.
• His leaping ability translates directly to the field – he goes up to meet the ball at its highest point.
• He has hands that effortlessly pluck the ball out of mid-air.

Here’s another play that showcases Artie Burns’ game-changing ability:

He’s in zone coverage on the outside here, but just look at that plant and break on the ball. Is there really any question of who wants that ball more between him and the receiver?

A lot of the traits Burns showcases on plays like the two above are ones that are hard to teach, and that’s why I have no trouble buying into the idea that some GMs around the league see him as quite the tantalizing prospect.

The last thing I’ll point out as a positive for Burns, is how he backs his brash attitude up with his body. Artie isn’t a “business decision” type of corner, he’s coming to lay a hit on the ball carrier whether it’s a run, pass, or special teams play.

There’s no question that Burns would immediately become the most physical corner on a majority of NFL teams on day one. And when you have a corner that hits like a strong safety, it ratchets up the physicality of your entire defense.

So we’ve seen there are some things to definitely get excited about when it comes to the prospect of adding Artie Burns to our secondary. But as with every prospect, there are some flaws that give you reason to pause. And with Artie, they are by no means minor.

Next: The case against...