Report: Seahawks sign former 1st-round CB Artie Burns

A day after reportedly losing starting cornerback D.J. Reed to the New York Jets, the Seahawks have added to their cornerback room as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Artie Burns, a 2016 first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is heading to Seattle on a one-year deal.

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Burns, 26, was the 25th overall pick in 2016 out of the University of Miami and played his first four NFL seasons in Pittsburgh before signing with the Chicago Bears. Burns tore his ACL in training camp and missed all of the 2020 season before returning to Chicago in 2021 and appearing in 11 games, starting six.

While a member of the Bears, Burns played for new Seahawks associate head coach Sean Desai, who was Chicago’s defensive coordinator in 2021.

Since debuting as a rookie in 2016, Burns has played in 69 games, making 38 starts. Of those 38 career starts, only 13 have come since the 2018 season, including this past season against the Seahawks, where he broke up two passes.

Overall in his career, Burns has four interceptions, 33 passes defensed, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

Burns is 6-feet tall with long 33 1/4-inch arms, so he checks the physical boxes of what the Seahawks have typically employed at outside cornerback under head coach Pete Carroll since he came to town in 2010.

Burns joins a Seattle cornerback room currently led by Sidney Jones, who just re-signed, and 2021 rookie Tre Brown. Nickel corners Marquise Blair and Ugo Amadi are still on the roster. Bless Austin, who saw some playing time last year, is a restricted free agent while John Reid and Gavin Heslop are exclusive rights free agents. The Seahawks also signed Mike Jackson to a futures contract after he spent 2021 on Seattle’s practice squad.

Keep track of every Seahawks addition and departure with SeattleSports.com’s Seahawks Offseason Tracker.

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