Artie Burns

[Steel Maniac]

I'd like to see us trade him for a upside TE. Specifically trade him to Denver (our newfound trade buddy John Elway) for Jake Butt. Broncos have Fant and Jeff Heurmann. Butt could be worth a flier. Just needs to stay healthy. Maybe we could score a 7th round pick too.

not a bad idea keylargo.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I'd like to see us trade him for a upside TE. Specifically trade him to Denver (our newfound trade buddy John Elway) for Jake Butt. Broncos have Fant and Jeff Heurmann. Butt could be worth a flier. Just needs to stay healthy. Maybe we could score a 7th round pick too.

Oh. My. God. SKL, look at Jake Butt.

I like big Butts and I can not lie...

[Northern_Blitz]

I'll take that luck. I'd prefer for him to have a good year for us in 2019 and then leave to sign a big money deal elsewhere than for him to suck for us in 2019 and then leave to sign a vet minimum prove it deal elsewhere. If he'll be playing elsewhere in 2020 regardless, it would be nice to be able to get some quality play out of him in 2019 than not, eh?

We'd also get a potential comp pick in this situation.

[Northern_Blitz]

17 first-round picks from 2016 had their fifth-year options picked up

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 3, 2019, 5:47 AM EDT

When NFL teams decline to pick up the fifth-year option for a first-round draft pick, they’re essentially saying that pick fell short of expectations. By that measure, 45 percent of the first-round picks in the 2016 NFL draft fell short.

The fifth-year option decisions are in for all of the first-round picks from 2016, and 17 of them were picked up, while 14 were declined. (New England was stripped of its first-round pick for Deflategate.)

That makes the 2016 first round a fairly disappointing one. In each of the last two years, 20 fifth-year options were picked up and 12 were declined.

Teams picking at the top of the draft were satisfied with their picks, as the Top 7 players all had their options picked up. The highest pick to have his option declined was Titans offensive tackle Jack Conklin, drafted No. 8 overall. Two first-round picks, 15th overall selection Corey Coleman of the Browns and 26th overall selection Paxton Lynch of the Broncos, had no fifth-year option because they have already been released from their rookie contracts.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/03/17-first-round-picks-from-2016-had-their-fifth-year-options-picked-up/

This goes to show that the draft is all just guessing. Everyone's trying to make the best decisions with the available info, but predicting the future is hard.

[hawaiiansteel]

Artie Burns continues a trend, but he's also a Steelers rarity Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

CB is team's second 1st-round pick since 2011 to have his fifth-year option declined

BRIAN BATKO
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MAY 6, 2019

On one hand, Artie Burns is just the latest failed attempt at finding a reliable cornerback for the Steelers. In another way, he’s one of very few exceptions to the rule when it comes to the team’s former first-round draft picks.

By declining to exercise their fifth-year option on Burns, a decision the Steelers had to make one way or the other by Friday — two days after Burns’ 24th birthday — they all but ensured that the 25th overall pick in 2016 wouldn’t make it beyond his rookie deal here in Pittsburgh. After the 2019 season, Burns likely will join the ranks of Keenan Lewis, Curtis Brown, Senquez Golson and Doran Grant as cornerbacks drafted by the Steelers in the first four rounds who didn’t spend more than four seasons with the franchise.

As the lone first-rounder in that group, Burns’ burnout would be the toughest to stomach. Partly because he was the only cornerback the Steelers have taken that high in the past 22 years, but also because it’s not often they botch their No. 1 choice.

“We can try to make predictions with our picks, and I always put it on me if they don’t add up,” general manager Kevin Colbert said last weekend while discussing this year’s first-rounder, Devin Bush. “If they go further than where we picked them, then we didn’t rate them good enough. If they’re not as good as we think they are, then we over-evaluated them.”

Colbert and company haven’t had to own up to too many whiffs, at least not to the extent Burns has been. Since the current contract structure for first-round picks went into effect with 2011 rookies, only two haven’t had their fifth-year options picked up by the Steelers: 17th overall in 2013 Jarvis Jones, and now Burns. Leaguewide, it’s slightly more common. This is the second consecutive offseason that 12 players still in their original contracts had their option years passed up (just under 40% of all first-rounders). The Buffalo Bills, for example, have only selected the option on two of their five first-rounders since 2011, and none of their last three.

Sandwiched around the Jones misfire, Cam Heyward (2011), David DeCastro (2012) and Ryan Shazier (2014) were slam dunks, and though he’s still a year away from his own deadline, T.J. Watt (2017) seems headed that way, too. Bud Dupree, picked one draft before Burns, was far from a no-brainer to those outside the organization, but the Steelers will find out this season if keeping him in the fold for his fifth year was the right call a year ago.

“I like Bud,” defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Keith Butler said during the draft. “Everybody’s questioning Bud and all that stuff, but I think Bud is going to be a good football player. I mean, there is some minute stuff that we’ve got to correct.”

For Burns, in letting him become a free agent after the upcoming season, it would seem the Steelers don’t have that same type of confidence in him breaking out, be it this year or next. You might remember that less than two months ago, after signing cornerback Steven Nelson to a three-year deal, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin declared that Burns’ stock “hasn’t been going up” upon losing his starting job last season.

Speaking of Nelson, his acquisition was the clearest sign that Burns’ time with the Steelers was going the way of Jones. So where will the front office go from here?

Drafting Michigan State cornerback Justin Layne in the third round was a start. When the Steelers parted ways with Jones, they drafted another outside linebacker the same offseason, and Watt — so far — has been a hit. But the status of veteran Joe Haden looms large entering the summer, as he’s going into the final year of his deal unless the Steelers give him a contract extension this offseason.

Given the presence of Haden, Nelson, plus Mike Hilton at nickel cornerback — and now a prospect to develop in Layne — Burns could be hard-pressed for playing time. But what if an injury forces him into action, and he does get his swagger back, enough to put together a successful campaign? It’s not common for a team to forgo the fifth-year option for a player they drafted, then re-sign him once he hits the open market, but it has happened. It’s what the Chicago Bears wound up doing with 2014 first-rounder Kyle Fuller, who became a Pro Bowl cornerback last season after injuries opened the door for him in his contract year.

“Over the last two years, he hasn’t [played well]. It’s really a confidence issue with Artie,” Colbert said Tuesday morning on 93.7 The Fan’s “Cook & Joe Show,” before the news of his option being declined.

“He’s had a good offseason. … We’ve had good meetings with him. He wants to be back where he was. He certainly has the talent. He works at it. He’s just got to find that confidence again, and if he does, he can be a successful NFL starter. He knows it, we know it, it’s been talked about. We’re encouraged by his wanting to get back to where he needs to be. If he gets there, great. It’d be good for him and good for us.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/201905050177

[RuthlessBurgher]

I could see us going back once again the Raider well (Martavis Bryant, Ryan Switzer, Antonio Brown) and make yet another trade with Oakland...one that does not involve a WR coming or going this time.

We did not exercise the 5th year option on CB Artie Burns' contract. Then we signed CB Steven Nelson to a 3 year, $25.5M contract with $7.5M guaranteed and drafted CB Justin Layne in the 3rd round, further pushing Burns down the Steeler CB depth chart.

The Raiders did not exercise the 5th year option on S Karl Joseph's contract. Then they signed S LaMarcus Joyner to a 4 year, $42M contract with $21.3M guaranteed and drafted S Johnathan Abram in the 1st round, further pushing Joseph down the Raider S depth chart.

Neither Burns nor Joseph will likely be with their current teams after this year, so why not just make a player-for-player swap now to see if they are able to resurrect their respective careers with one last training camp in a new situation before their rookie contracts expire?

We should trade Artie Burns for Karl Joseph straight up.

The Raiders are always interested in having track stars like Artie in their secondary, and we could certainly use a hardnosed kid in our secondary who played his college ball nearly at WVU. Seems like a potential win-win situation to me. And neither team has to deal with giving up any future draft picks to make it happen. Just a simple player for player deal.

And I'd rather do it now before OTA's and minicamps than later on in the offseason when teams are reducing their final rosters to 53 players, since training camp is already over by then.

[Steel Maniac]

Artie Burns continues a trend, but he's also a Steelers rarity Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

CB is team's second 1st-round pick since 2011 to have his fifth-year option declined

BRIAN BATKO
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MAY 6, 2019

On one hand, Artie Burns is just the latest failed attempt at finding a reliable cornerback for the Steelers. In another way, he’s one of very few exceptions to the rule when it comes to the team’s former first-round draft picks.

By declining to exercise their fifth-year option on Burns, a decision the Steelers had to make one way or the other by Friday — two days after Burns’ 24th birthday — they all but ensured that the 25th overall pick in 2016 wouldn’t make it beyond his rookie deal here in Pittsburgh. After the 2019 season, Burns likely will join the ranks of Keenan Lewis, Curtis Brown, Senquez Golson and Doran Grant as cornerbacks drafted by the Steelers in the first four rounds who didn’t spend more than four seasons with the franchise.

As the lone first-rounder in that group, Burns’ burnout would be the toughest to stomach. Partly because he was the only cornerback the Steelers have taken that high in the past 22 years, but also because it’s not often they botch their No. 1 choice.

“We can try to make predictions with our picks, and I always put it on me if they don’t add up,” general manager Kevin Colbert said last weekend while discussing this year’s first-rounder, Devin Bush. “If they go further than where we picked them, then we didn’t rate them good enough. If they’re not as good as we think they are, then we over-evaluated them.”

Colbert and company haven’t had to own up to too many whiffs, at least not to the extent Burns has been. Since the current contract structure for first-round picks went into effect with 2011 rookies, only two haven’t had their fifth-year options picked up by the Steelers: 17th overall in 2013 Jarvis Jones, and now Burns. Leaguewide, it’s slightly more common. This is the second consecutive offseason that 12 players still in their original contracts had their option years passed up (just under 40% of all first-rounders). The Buffalo Bills, for example, have only selected the option on two of their five first-rounders since 2011, and none of their last three.

Sandwiched around the Jones misfire, Cam Heyward (2011), David DeCastro (2012) and Ryan Shazier (2014) were slam dunks, and though he’s still a year away from his own deadline, T.J. Watt (2017) seems headed that way, too. Bud Dupree, picked one draft before Burns, was far from a no-brainer to those outside the organization, but the Steelers will find out this season if keeping him in the fold for his fifth year was the right call a year ago.

“I like Bud,” defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Keith Butler said during the draft. “Everybody’s questioning Bud and all that stuff, but I think Bud is going to be a good football player. I mean, there is some minute stuff that we’ve got to correct.”

For Burns, in letting him become a free agent after the upcoming season, it would seem the Steelers don’t have that same type of confidence in him breaking out, be it this year or next. You might remember that less than two months ago, after signing cornerback Steven Nelson to a three-year deal, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin declared that Burns’ stock “hasn’t been going up” upon losing his starting job last season.

Speaking of Nelson, his acquisition was the clearest sign that Burns’ time with the Steelers was going the way of Jones. So where will the front office go from here?

Drafting Michigan State cornerback Justin Layne in the third round was a start. When the Steelers parted ways with Jones, they drafted another outside linebacker the same offseason, and Watt — so far — has been a hit. But the status of veteran Joe Haden looms large entering the summer, as he’s going into the final year of his deal unless the Steelers give him a contract extension this offseason.

Given the presence of Haden, Nelson, plus Mike Hilton at nickel cornerback — and now a prospect to develop in Layne — Burns could be hard-pressed for playing time. But what if an injury forces him into action, and he does get his swagger back, enough to put together a successful campaign? It’s not common for a team to forgo the fifth-year option for a player they drafted, then re-sign him once he hits the open market, but it has happened. It’s what the Chicago Bears wound up doing with 2014 first-rounder Kyle Fuller, who became a Pro Bowl cornerback last season after injuries opened the door for him in his contract year.

“Over the last two years, he hasn’t [played well]. It’s really a confidence issue with Artie,” Colbert said Tuesday morning on 93.7 The Fan’s “Cook & Joe Show,” before the news of his option being declined.

“He’s had a good offseason. … We’ve had good meetings with him. He wants to be back where he was. He certainly has the talent. He works at it. He’s just got to find that confidence again, and if he does, he can be a successful NFL starter. He knows it, we know it, it’s been talked about. We’re encouraged by his wanting to get back to where he needs to be. If he gets there, great. It’d be good for him and good for us.”

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...s/201905050177

It's last call for Alcohol with Burns; he may have a shot at some playing time because guys get dinged here and there. Hope he makes the most of it.