Former Steelers First-Round Pick Signs with Miami Dolphins
Former Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick Artie Burns is signing with the Miami Dolphins for the 2025 season.
The Miami Dolphins are signing former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Artie Burns for the 2025 season, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Burns, 29, began his NFL career as a first-round pick (No. 25 overall) by the Steelers in the 2016 NFL Draft. He showed promise as a rookie, registering 65 tackles (52 solo), three interceptions and 13 passes defensed in 16 games, but he would not amount to much more.
He started all 16 games as a second-year player in 2017, but in 2018, he was supplanted by veteran Coty Sensabaugh, and in 2019, the Steelers acquired Steven Nelson as a free agent, leaving Burns with minimal playing time. In 2019, he played in 10 games and made one start, recording a total of just eight tackles.
The Steelers then declined Burns’ fifth-year option, making him a free agent following the 2019 season. In 2020, he signed with the Chicago Bears but suffered a season-ending torn ACL before he even got started.
The Bears gave Burns a second chance, re-signing him in 2021. But he struggled in his return, recording just 23 tackles and six passes defensed in 11 games.
Burns got another opportunity, though. In 2022, the Seattle Seahawks signed him to a one-year, $2 million deal and then re-signed him following a campaign in which he had 23 tackles and two passes defensed in 15 games.
Many have pegged Burns as a bust, given the draft capital that was used to select him, but he is now entering his 10th season in NFL, which is not any easy thing to do.