October 7, 2004
Strong Safety Curry Burns
Shaun Williams is on IR. There was some talk about signing another kicker, but the Giants clearly needed depth at safety. Some fans who wanted the Giants to draft Jason Shivers in the second round thought we should sign him off the Rams practice squad, but we signed Curry Burns off the Patriots practice squad. The Patriots seem to be doing a better job at evaluating talent these days...
He was drafted in the 7th round and expected to be primarily a special teams standout who could play gunner and block kicks or punts with his leaping ability. He was described as a "linebacker playing in a safety's body" and some of his shortcomings are what you'd expect of a linebacker:
Areas of Concern: Burns can play a tight end in coverage, but otherwise he’ll need some help in that area. He is not someone that plays the ball because of his intense focus on eliminating the guy holding onto the ball. His speed and range are merely adequate in coverage, so he probably won’t be asked to cover too many slot receivers or play in any deep zones....
Curry Burns has a reputation as a hard hitting run stopper, but in College he earned praise for interceptions:
2001: Led the team and ranked No. 10 in the conference with 107 tackles, including 56 solos stops ... earned Defensive MVP honors at the AXA Liberty Bowl after notching a game-high 12 tackles, including nine solo stops, and an interception at the end of the third quarter which setup Ronnie Ghent's 27-yard game-clinching touchdown ... tied fellow safety Anthony Floyd for second on the team and fifth in Conference USA with four interceptions ... a major reason why the Cardinals were the toughest team to throw against in Conference USA (199.3/game) ... U of L ranked No. 18 nationally against the pass with a 105.01 pass efficiency defense ... tallied six double-digit tackle games, including a season-high 16 in the season-opener against New Mexico State ... notched 10 tackles, picked off two passes and deflected another three at Illinois.Posted by James Trotta at October 7, 2004 11:58 PM