Getty The Birmingham Stallions celebrate their win over the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL Championship Game in July 2022.
The Cleveland Browns have added a defensive back with championship pedigree to the mix as training camp kicks into full-go mode.
Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston reported via Twitter on Monday, July 31, that Cleveland has brought in cornerback Lorenzo Burns to compete for a roster spot over the next five weeks. Burns has been a part of back-to-back title teams with the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (USFL).
#Browns have agreed to terms with two-time champion @USFLStallions cornerback Lorenzo Burns, per a league source @KPRC2
“#Browns have agreed to terms with two-time champion @USFLStallions cornerback Lorenzo Burns, per a league source,” Wilson tweeted.
Browns Offer CB Lorenzo Burns Second Chance in NFL
GettyHead coach Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns looks on from the sideline during an NFL game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in January 2023.
Burns has taken the long way around to again find himself on an NFL roster. The cornerback’s first stint on the game’s biggest stage came with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he joined the practice squad in September 2021 following training camp.
Burns was out of the league by the following year and subsequently landed with the Stallions. He recorded nine tackles, three pass breakups and two interceptions across eight games played in Birmingham in the 2022 season, per TheUSFL.com. Burns helped the Stallions win the championship that year — a feat the organization repeated in 2023.
Burns played five collegiate seasons, all at the University of Arizona. The coaching staff redshirted the cornerback during his true freshman campaign, in which he saw action in just two contests due to injury. Burns played in 40 games over the next four seasons, amassing 191 tackles, including eight tackles for loss, 26 pass breakups, nine interceptions and two sacks, per Football Reference.
Burns measured 5’11” and weighed in at 175 pounds at the NFL Combine in 2021, per NFL.com. He went undrafted that year and joined the Jaguars as a free agent.
Browns Get Thin at Cornerback After Top 3 Players at Position
GettyCornerback Martin Emerson Jr. of the Cleveland Browns celebrates after deflecting a pass during an NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals in October 2022.
Burns faces an uphill battle to make the Browns’ roster this summer, even despite the fact that the team goes three-deep at cornerback before the position gets unnervingly thin.
Two-time Pro Bowler Denzel Ward is the group’s headliner on the left side, while Greg Newsome III figures to start outside on the right. Martin Emerson Jr., a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, started six games for Cleveland during his rookie campaign and played nearly 800 snaps on defense, per Pro Football Reference. He tallied 63 tackles, 15 pass breakups and a sack last season.
Cleveland selected cornerback Cameron Mitchell out of Northwestern — Newsome’s alma mater — in the fifth-round of this year’s draft (No. 142 overall). As of Monday, A.J. Green III was listed as Newsome’s backup, one slot ahead of Mitchell on the Browns’ depth chart, per ESPN.
Green is entering his fourth season with the team after signing in Cleveland as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State in 2020. The 25-year-old CB saw minimal action on special teams as a rookie. Green played 22% of the team’s defensive snaps (176 total snaps) the following season, though that number dipped to 13% (141 total snaps) in 2022.
Over the course of his three-year NFL career, Green has appeared in 31 games and earned two starts. He has tallied 39 tackles, seven pass breakups, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries over that span.