Every morning when I wake up I am surrounded by several Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys of my favorite players that are framed on my wall. Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, Jerome Bettis, and Artie Burns? Hmm… that doesn’t seem quite right.

The Steelers selected cornerback Artie Burns from the University of Miami with the 25th overall selection in the 2016 draft. At the time, the organization needed to shore up their defensive secondary and a cornerback was high up on their list of positions to fill in the draft. Rather than taking the best available player at a position of need, the Steelers made a rather interesting move.

Burns’ fate could be categorized into two areas quite early on in his career – he was either the villain or the Steel City hero, depending on who you asked. In my eyes, even though the Steelers did what they were supposed to and drafted a player from a position of need, they jumped the gun and took an athlete who had a second and even some third round grades on him.

In a BehindtheSteelCurtain article I wrote in 2017, I mentioned how excited I was for Burns and how his story of taking care of his younger siblings when times were tough really helped solidify his arrival in Pittsburgh.

“Artie Burns – Mike Tomlin – Pittsburgh Steelers.” Those are the words that are forever engraved in my mind. When head coach Mike Tomlin called the young athlete on Draft Day, I was ecstatic after hearing what this young man went through. Burns’ story is just incredible but also very sad. He lost his mother a few years ago unexpectedly and his father is in jail. Burns has a girlfriend and a child he has to take care of on the daily along with his siblings. Being a track star in high school as well as a college cornerback suited him very well in his rookie campaign.

There is no question that this was an emotional selection, and with emotions often comes a deeper connection between the player and a fan. One of the reasons why I have Burns’ jersey framed and hanging in my bedroom is because his character exemplifies what I enjoy seeing from professional athletes.

Burns spent just four seasons in the black and gold and his rookie campaign where he registered 65 total tackles, three interceptions, and played the entire season has never been replicated. Since his departure from the team in 2019, Burns made two stops with the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks. He recently re-signed a one year contract and is a solid depth player for the Seahawks’ secondary.

The leap for Burns would forever be ridiculed and many analysts and fans consider his selection a massive bust, but that may not be entirely the case.

I am going to argue that selecting Burns, along with Colbert, Tomlin, and the entire scouting department hearing the fan base spread their disapproval with the unnecessary jump up in the draft, changed the trajectory of the organization for the better.

One year later, the Steelers selected T.J. Watt from the University of Wisconsin. The organization’s need was to revamp the defense with an emphasis on getting a pass rush specialist. With an aging James Harrison on the roster, who will soon spend the rest of the season and a Super Bowl appearance in New England, an edge rushing athlete needed to be addressed and was with Watt’s arrival.

Then general manager Kevin Colbert decided to take the best player available and looked at multiple areas of need this time around. It was a better move than to jump the gun and focus on just one position, like with the Burns selection.

Fast forward to the 2021 NFL Draft, the Steelers took running back Najee Harris with their first round selection, pick 24. At this time, running back was a very important need in the draft but were the blinders on again like in 2016 when Pittsburgh could have landed another position of need with an even better athlete? The same question could have been asked in 2022 when quarterback was a positional need, and in his last draft at the helm, Colbert selected Kenny Pickett in the first round. That did not seem to work out like everyone had hoped for.

Sometimes it is hard to admit when we are wrong. While I coach football, I do not have all of the answers nor does the average sports fan or individual in life. We are humans and we evaluate based upon film and production on the field, and sometimes that production does not translate to the National Football League.

With the Burns selection in 2016, I am going to continue to argue that even though the team listened to their fan base and selected an area of need, the jump for Burns due to emotion should have never unfolded. As a fan, it is fine to have that emotional connection to a player like I had with Burns and his story, but when it comes to making the organization more competitive and stronger, emotions should be left out of the equation.

I’d like to conclude with this… It is imperative for the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers to not jump the gun in this year’s draft but to rather select the best player available at multiple positions of need and not just one. While center is a top priority, if the best player available at pick 20 is a wide receiver who may have dropped, I am a firm believer in selecting that athlete and then plugging up the other holes in the later rounds.

Ultimately, the Artie Burns selection was a lesson in the history books as it paved the way for a newer and more detailed approach, one that is not solely based upon the emotion and single-minded focus on improving just one major position, but rather improving from multiple perspectives and a best player available approach.