Late Thursday night in his hometown of Miami, Pittsburgh Steelers corner back Artie Burns was arrested by Miami Beach Police. The arrest came after Burns was pulled over by an officer for an expired Florida license plate. When Burns was unable to produce a license to the officer, it was found his license had been suspended, and Burns owes over $1,000 in parking tickets. Burns was taken into custody by police and had his vehicle impounded. He would later be released from custody early Friday morning, and the Steelers have yet to comment.
Artie Burns Arrested for Driving with Suspended License
Any arrest is obviously a negative, but in today’s NFL, this will most likely be met with at most a stern talking to. The amount of unpaid parking fines and driving on a suspended license shows lack of judgement by Burns. However, it is highly unlikely anyone will remember this incident come to the start of the season, as long as new details do not surface. The Steelers will talk to their young corner and make sure he understands this is not acceptable. Any form of discipline will come from within the organization, however.
Burns will need to clear this distraction from his thoughts as soon as possible. The Steelers report to training camp in Latrobe, PA on July 27th, and Burns need to be at peak focus. The defense needs to show improvement from last year to make a run at a championship, and Burns is a major piece. The second year player impressed in his rookie season, and another year of growth will surely benefit his development. The best case scenario for the Steelers is Burns realizes what he did was wrong and performs well in 2017.
Burns’ play is imperative for the Steelers success this season. He must realize this behavior cannot go on. Most importantly, he needs to isolate this incident and focus on football from here on out.
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