Patrick Smith/Getty Images Artie Burns of the Pittsburgh Steelers on January 22, 2017.
The Seattle Seahawks have re-signed cornerback Artie Burns to a 1-year contract, according to a May 22 report by Adam Schefter, senior NFL insider for ESPN.
Free-agent cornerback Artie Burns is re-signing with the Seahawks on a one-year deal.
The move reunites the former Pittsburgh Steelers 1st-round pick (No. 25 overall, 2016) with inside linebacker Devin Bush Jr., a fellow 1st-round selection who signed a 1-year deal with Seattle in mid-March 2023.
The pair were teammates in Pittsburgh in 2019, the same year that Bush was drafted No. 10 overall by the Steelers. Neither player has achieved the on-field success that the Steelers expected when they were drafted.
Artie Burns Is on His 6th NFL Contract
Yet Artie Burns has managed to carve out a longer-than-average NFL career as a bottom-of-the-roster player, this in spite of suffering a torn ACL in the summer of 2020 while a member of the Chicago Bears.
In fact, Burns is now on his 6th NFL contract and his 2nd with the Seahawks, having earned $2.035 million playing for Seattle in 2022, as noted by overthecap.com. He appeared in three games last season, playing 16 snaps on defense and eight more on special teams, but did not record a statistic.
Prior to moving to the Pacific Northwest, Burns spent two years in Chicago. He missed the 2020 season with the aforementioned torn ACL but the Bears brought him back on another 1-year deal in 2021. He failed to make the team’s initial 53-man roster but was re-signed and went on to appear in 11 games, recording 23 total tackles and a half-dozen passes defensed.
Burns has been labeled as Pittsburgh’s “biggest 1st-round mistake since 2016.” He famously abandoned his Cadillac Escalade at Pittsburgh International Airport when he first signed with the Bears and departed for Chicago.
To date, Burns has appeared in 72 NFL regular-season games and has made 158 total tackles (127 solo). He has also intercepted four passes and been credited with 33 passes defensed, according to NFL.com.
As for Bush, shortly after signing with the Seahawks, he took to social media to say he “can’t wait” to play for Seattle, a comment that attracted the attention of Steelers fans, one of whom tweeted:
“I speak for all steelers fans when I say we can’t wait either.”
Steelers Sign Tryout Linebacker, Release 3 Players
Meanwhile, on Monday May 22, 2023, the Steelers announced that they signed free agent linebacker Toby Ndukwe, who played collegiately at Sam Houston State (2022) and SMU (2017-21). Ndukwe took part in Pittsburgh’s recent rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.
General manager Omar Khan also opened up room on the team’s offseason roster by releasing linebackers Tae Crowder and Emeke Egbule and running back Master Teague III.
Crowder was signed off the New York Giants’ practice squad late in the 2022 season but did not appear in a game for the Steelers.
Egbule — a 2019 6th-round pick of the Chargers — was signed to a reserve/future contract earlier this offseason after joining Pittsburgh’s practice squad in December 2022.
Master Teague originally signed with the Steelers in August 2022. He was released after suffering a sprained ankle early in training camp but signed to the practice squad in November.
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Artie Burns Signs 6th NFL Contract, Reunites With Steelers 1st-Round Bust: Report