For Pete’s sake: Three Seahawks who were awful vs. Cowboys on Friday

Seahawks cornerback Artie Burns

There is probably a reason Artie Burns hasn’t managed to stay being a starter in the NFL. In 2017 for the Steelers, Burns did start all 16 games and had 13 passes defended. By 2019, however, Pittsburgh saw it fit to have him start just 1 out of the 10 games he played. In 2021, Burns joined the Bears and started 6 games.

Burns hasn’t had an interception since 2017. Burns was still pretty good overall, according to Pro Football Focus, and he received a grade of 70.5 overall which is good enough. In 2018, that fell to 58.6 and Burns allowed a passer-rating-against of 149. Ouch.

Still, Pete Carroll (probably with the help of new associate head coach Sean Desai; Desai joined the Seahawks this year after previously coaching in Chicago) thought it wise to bring Burns to Seattle for 2022. Burns seemed even to be playing well enough in training camp to be a first-team cornerback for most of camp.

But Burns is oft-injured and couldn’t play in preseason until the Cowboys game and he wasn’t good. Burns played off the line quite a bit and allowed several receptions in front of him before attempting a tackle. It looked a lot like 2021 Seahawks football and that didn’t work. Burns also isn’t a good tackler, it appeared.

Burns is the guy you want on the field if you want the other team to pick up easy first downs on third-down conversions. At least, that is how he looked against the Cowboys on Friday.