Burns continues to grow, mature with Steelers

Quick, name the cornerback with the most experience with the Steelers.

Your first answer might be veteran Joe Haden, and while, technically, it's true the nine-year veteran has the most experience of the Steelers cornerbacks, he's only been in Pittsburgh for one season.

The correct answer is Artie Burns. And while it might seem to some that Burns has been around for a long time, he's entering just his third season in the league and second year as a full-time starter.

Having just turned 24 years old, Burns is confident his best days — and best play — remain ahead.

"I definitely feel like I’m here now and I’ve got to make a stand," Burns told me Thursday as the Steelers wrapped up their first week of OTAs. "I feel like I’m going to play really well and make an impact and let people know who I am."

For some, that hasn't come quickly enough. Though Burns appeared in all 16 games as a rookie in 2016, just nine of those were starts. So effectively, last season was his first full year as a starter in the NFL.

He finished the season with 54 tackles, one interception and a team-best 13 passes defensed, but the expectations were even greater. That's how it is for many first-round draft picks, regardless of whether they are taken in the top five picks or the 32nd. People hear "first-rounder" and expect a star.

Burns knows he's not there yet. But he also knows his first full season as a starter wasn't the train wreck some suggest.

"I feel like I did some things good. I definitely got better in my man-to-man coverage. I feel like I did good on that," Burns said. "I feel like I improved my tackling. But I can still improve on so many things. In Year 3, I feel like I’m going to be better than I was in Year 2."

He's going about that the same way he did last year, by challenging himself constantly in practice. If Antonio Brown is on the field — he and Ben Roethlisberger were among those missing from Thursday's OTA session — Burns is typically the cornerback lined up opposite him.

If you want to be the best you can be, you have to test yourself against the best.

Brown, who like Burns, hails from Miami, Fla., loves the challenge the younger cornerback presents.

"It is fun. Obviously, we are hometown friends, competitors," Brown said of Burns. "It is just one of those things like your brother, you want to get the best of him and he wants to get the best of you, but at the end of the day it is all love."

The Steelers would love for Burns to develop into a true No. 1 cornerback, something that can take time.

For example, Josh Norman didn't really blossom as a coverage player until his third season. And it wasn't until he turned 24 that Richard Sherman turned into a true shutdown cornerback.

Like a fine wine, cornerbacks can get better with age, so long as they still have their ability to run. Burns might be reaching that point where he's got the perfect blend of experience to go along with his athleticism.

But he'll have to continue to grow, both on and off the field.

That process might have been accelerated a little in the offseason when the Steelers parted ways with longtime defensive backs William Gay, Mike Mitchell and Robert Golden, along with defensive backs coach Carnell Lake.

Now, there's no more safety net. There aren't any guys who have been around the system so long they can serve as sounding boards or a crutch. Now, Burns is that veteran guy.

That might be a good thing because life keeps on rolling and, sometimes, you don't know if a player can stand on his own until you take that assistance away.

Burns is growing up. He's getting married this summer and he's already getting prepared for that life change by wearing his wedding band on the practice field. It's a reminder of what awaits. And it's a symbol of his growth as a person and player.

"Everything comes with time," Burns told me. "With the great coaches that we’ve got, the guys that we had here that are gone, William Gay, Mike Mitch, Rob G., those guys helped a lot. But we’ve still got guys here that can still bring us along and help us with the things we don’t know. We’ve just got to keep on rolling."

ODDS AND END ZONES

With Roethlisberger not here today, the other three quarterbacks — Landry Jones, Josh Dobbs and rookie Mason Rudolph — split snaps pretty evenly. They seemed to push each other well. All three guys finished the first week of practice strong. ... It was alumni day at practice today and just over a dozen former Steelers showed up at practice to watch the team work and interact with the players. ... The Steelers are now off until next Tuesday. They practice three days again next week.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY