Film Room: The Potential of Artie Burns

The Case Against Artie

As I saw with Eli Apple when studying him a couple of weeks ago, Burns is very raw when it comes to coverage technique. His athleticism allowed him to thrive at the college level, but it also reducedthe need to hone his fundamental coverage skills. Let’s start with him in press coverage:

This is a pretty discouraging play all-around. First thing you’ll notice is that his jam lacks any sort of power whatsoever, and he allows the receiver to get an inside release. This can be chalked up to his feet being absolutely motionless during the jam. While it’s good practice not to lunge at the receiver, standing completely still is asking for trouble (and trouble is what he got).

After that, Burns is scrambling the entire route to stay with his man – he reaches out to grab the receiver, and flips his hips the wrong way on the second turn. To say Burns struggled that play would be an understatement.

Remember how his feet got him in trouble on that last play? Well, they’re the culprit here as well. Once again, Burns is in press coverage but is standing completely motionless when the receiver begins his route. Because it’s a crossing route, Burns isn’t able to get a hand on him and is immediately a step behind.

Getting caught up by the other receiver’s crossing route basically takes Burns completely out of the play. When it comes to press man, proper footwork is absolutely vital, and is an area that Burns is going to need to be coached up on quite a bit.

The other big flaw I noticed when watching tape on Burns is his hip fluidity suffers because of his pad level. In the play above, Burns is back-pedaling almost straight up which causes his hip flips to be elongated and rounded off. This causes problems when he’s asked to defend digs and outs, as his rounded-off lateral transitions cause him to lose a step on the receiver.

Burns is going to have to put in lots of work in keeping his pad level low while back-pedaling, and keeping those change of directions tight rather than elongated.

Burns is a prospect I have a love-hate relationship with. On one hand, I absolutely love his attitude, physicality, ball skills, and overall athleticism on the field. But on the flip side, his technique is so very raw that I wonder if Marcus Peters would ever see a ball thrown his way if Burns were to be his counterpart next season.

With that being said, here’s the scenario in which I would be on board with the Burns being the selection: he needs to work on his technique, but his athleticism and ball skills make him a player who want to get on the field. So having him play a Ron Parker/third-safety type of role where he’s not asked to lock down on side of the field every play would be a good way to bring him along while giving him snaps.

Grabbing a playmaker that could contribute today while honing his craft for an expanded role tomorrow is a move I’m on board with.