LATROBE, Pa. -- Artie Burns took several positive steps in his first full year as a starter toward becoming a reliable cornerstone for the Steelers' defense. He improved his skills at playing tight coverage at the start of the route and refined his ability to react on the ball smoothly while being disciplined in coverage.
But the next steps on Burns' rise in the NFL have to improve specific parts of his skills as a starting cornerback. Let's start by focusing on showing where he's at his best:
Burns has had the challenge of going up against Antonio Brown in training camp for three years now. While that seems like a daunting task, it is also a great learning opportunity for the young cornerback to learn from his mistakes. Brown has the best release of any receiver in the NFL against press coverage. He often wins battles at the line of scrimmage by having quicker feet and being able to out-leverage opponents at the start of a route.
Burns found that out pretty early in his career as he had to take on Brown daily at training camp in both his rookie and sophomore NFL training camps. But he took those lessons in stride and often looks sharp when pressing receivers in man coverage.
Watch how he works against Brandin Cooks here; he starts with taking short and choppy lateral steps so as to not give Cooks an easy path for whatever route he runs. His job at this point is to keep himself between Cooks and Tom Brady, which means he does not want to give the receiver the inside part of the field unless he knows he has help there.
Burns successfully forces Cooks to the sideline and turns in pursuit, keeping his eyes locked on Cooks' hands and only raising his own hands once he sees Cooks' going for the ball. This is textbook man coverage on a primary threat of a receiver:
Brown is the best at many things, but what helped put him on the map early in his career was how great he was at getting off the ball and into his routes regardless of the coverage he faced. Burns learned a lot from facing him every day, and now even wins plenty of their battles in camp. This past Saturday, he even jumped a slant route from Brown for an interception in the seven shots drill.
It's great that Burns has made it more of a back-and-forth between him and Brown, but he still has more to learn. Particularly, he still makes small mistakes that can turn into big problems.
One of the fundamental mistakes to avoid when in press man coverage is to not fall for feints to the outside. If a receiver takes false steps to the inside and a cornerback bites on them, the receiver is still limited by the sideline and the cornerback can work to stay between him and the quarterback.
However if a receiver takes false steps to the outside and the cornerback bites, giving up the inside, the receiver can cut to the center of the field and present an easier target for the quarterback.
That's exactly what happened when Keelan Cole beat Burns in the playoffs for a huge gain. Watch how he starts with a move that makes Burns bite to the sideline and then give up the inside part of the field:
There is the consideration that Burns could have been counting on Robert Golden to provide safety help as he was playing as the deep single-high safety. Golden ran to help underneath against a tight end, leaving Burns by himself.
Either way, Burns could've completely redirected Cole's route if he didn't give up his inside leverage. All of that came from one quick mistake in the middle of a game where he already made two other good plays on the ball.
The other major gain Burns could make during 2018 would be a decrease in mistakes due to assignments and communication. Burns often found himself in the vicinity of the ball when his receiver was targeted, but when he wasn't, it was because he made a mistake with his assignment rather than being shaken off by a sharp route.
Take this touchdown scored by the Packers when he had deep-thirds responsibility in zone coverage and left his assignment to cover a post pattern from a receiver. Doing so opened up his entire sideline and allowed an easy touchdown:
Burns did make several good decisions throughout the season and made just as many plays while in off coverage as he did in press. Even when a receiver does get inside of a cornerback, the defender must do his best to trail the back shoulder and either attack the ball or the opponent's hands. Burns displayed his ability to do that throughout the season, and even during the team's playoff loss to the Jaguars:
In addition to eliminating the small fundamental mistakes and improving on communication, Burns could finish plays by completing turnovers. Between the 13 passes he swatted away in the regular season and the two in the playoffs, Burns had plenty of opportunities to intercept passes. If he can turn a few more of those chances into actual turnovers in 2018, he could play a pivotal role in key games this season.