One of the most exciting cornerbacks to watch in the entire 2016 NFL Draft, Artie Burns out of Miami has prototypical size, ball skills, and aggressiveness, but his lack of fluidity, footwork, and technique in coverage could keep him out of the early rounds.
CB Artie Burns
College: Miami Hurricanes
Year: Junior
Birth Year: 1995
Height: 6’0
Weight: 190
The way Artie Burns attacks and finds the football is undeniably his top trait as a cornerback. Most young cornerbacks have a difficult time turning their head and finding the football, let alone attacking it at its highest point. Burns has shown consistently that he can do both while on the hip pocket of the receiver.
Artie Burns is also well-advanced in zone coverage and when asked to read the quarterback’s eyes. It truly speaks to the development of his mental processing ability this early in his career as he is able to diagnose the play in front of him, and then react to put himself in the best position possible to make the play. Sometimes with cornerbacks, staying disciplined in coverage tells more about mental processing than anything, and on this play, Burns sits down in the zone and picks off the quarterback after reading his eyes like a book.
Burns seems much more comfortable when he is up at the LOS able to jam the receiver in Press. He is much better as a player when he is able to get his hands on the receiver so he can disrupt and re-route his path to the football. However, I cannot say that I can trust him from a backpedal in Off man coverage. His COD and hips are much stiffer than I would like in a cornerback, and as a result, I think he will have trouble flipping his hips and running vertical with receivers at the next level. With that being said, he also needs to move better laterally in terms of his reactionary quickness with his feet. He is able to get himself in position cerebrally, but he struggles to capitalize quicker than he needs to with his average closing speed.
In addition, I have legitimate concerns about his ability to stop/start in and out of the breaks of the receiver. Bigger, more physical corners like Burns usually have this problem, but if he’s initially beat, he has an ugly habit of grabbing the receiver’s jersey to recover rather than get back on the hip pocket with his feet. His lack of fluidity, recovery speed, and overall change of direction gives me pause about him on Day 2.
Although Burns is a wild open field tackler, he is very willing to get his nose dirty in run support. His whole game relies on his physicality, and he is one of the few cornerbacks who can really come down and make a difference against the run. Young cornerbacks usually aren’t as willing to come and help in this facet of the game, but Burns keeps his contain when asked to and is able to shed blocks with ease when necessary as well. This is a part of the game to where Burns can really make his presence known on special teams at the next level.
Overall, Artie Burns is an interesting study because of his NFL size, ball skills, mental processing, and overall physicality at both the LOS and in run support. However, his production at the collegiate level does not seem to translate all that well to the NFL level considering his lack of fluidity in his hips, bad tendencies to get grabby when initially beat, and not having the deep speed to recover. Sure, he will be able to body up with big receivers at the NFL level with his physicality and competitive toughness, but when he goes up against a quick-footed athlete or superior route runner, he will struggle immensely.
When he steps into the league, coaches need to tell him to trust his feet more and work with him on his overall technique. The best fit for Burns at the next level would be for him to step into a Cover 2 or Cover 3 system that implements press coverage so that he can take advantage of his physicality and length at both the line of scrimmage and in run support. I see his overall ceiling as a prospect to that of Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr, who also relies on his physicality and mental processing ability to play as a consistent starter on the outside.
