Lorenzo Burns has seen a lot of winning in his short professional football career. He may be better equipped than most players when it comes to determining if a team can win it all.
Lorenzo Burns, Three-Time Champion
Lorenzo Burns has been a key member of a secondary that has won three championships in a row. The Birmingham Stallions have essentially become a dynasty in American spring football, winning championships in three straight seasons, and now two different leagues. Compiling a record of 32-4 including a spotless playoff record along the way.
Burns now joins the defending Grey Cup champions, who currently sit in first place as the only team to have claimed a playoff berth already with six games to go in the regular season. Given that Burns did not sign an NFL contract in 2024, Burns is doing the next best thing, and earning some CFL paychecks on the defending Grey Cup champions poised to defend their title in 2024.
Straight into Spring Football
Lorenzo Burns is one of the unique players who did not wait to jump into the USFL even though he had been on an NFL team during his rookie season in 2021. Often players wait out an NFL contract even if they have not received a call for a workout. Burns however joined the USFL immediately in 2022, choosing to return in 2023.
After the 2023 USFL season, he signed with the Cleveland Browns. The Browns participated in the Hall of Fame game in 2023 giving Burns four preseason games to prove himself. Playing 111 snaps on defense and 28 on special teams he was graded out over 90 in the run game and faired well in coverage.
He was targeted 6 times allowing 2 receptions for 33 yards and 1 touchdown. If you count his snaps in 2021 with the Jaguars, he has been targeted 12 times in NFL games and allowed only 3 receptions for 42 yards, only 13 of which came after the catch. He has forced a fumble as well. Not a bad run even though he was not retained by either team.
Big Piece to Birmingham’s Championship Puzzle
During his time with Birmingham, he played in 30 total games missing a handful of games along the way. He played 853 defensive snaps for the Stallions. He played another 148 in NFL preseason games, and as a four-year starter at Arizona, he played over 2,700 snaps in college.
Montreal is getting a very experienced and nuanced defensive back who has been coached closely for two of his three seasons with the Stallions by a former CFL Coach Corey Chamblin. I’m positive this connection did not hurt his CFL interest.
Will He Return to the Stallions?
Burns is just 27 years old but did not receive much NFL interest after his third season with the Stallions, he would not be the first player to double dip by finishing a season out with the CFL. The question now becomes will Montreal make him an offer he can’t refuse to stay in 2025, or will we see him return to the Stallions?
Other News
In other news, former Birmingham Stallions defensive back Matt Hankins has been released by the Los Angeles Chargers. Hankins has been a member of the Chargers since the end of the 2023 USFL season, and it appeared he had made the team for 2024 once again. That changed quickly as the Chargers released Hankins in favor of another former UFL player Nehemiah Shelton. Hankins has earned $228,500 since joining the Chargers on top of the $60,000 he made in the USFL in 2023. Not a bad chunk of change, and likely just enough motivation for the young player to continue chasing the dream, potentially even back with the Stallions.
Stallions Sign Pair of Defensive Backs
The Stallions have brought back cornerback Chris Jackson, and safety Juju Hughes. Both players initially signed with the Stallions for the 2024 season, and each saw their share of challenges with the UFL. Chris Jackson ended up on injured reserve and finished the season having only played in five games. The former 7th round NFL Draft pick played okay when healthy but in his 5 appearances, he was targeted 21 times allowing 17 receptions for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns an average of 145.7 QB Rating when targeted.
Juju Hughes saw action in only two games before the Stallions released him in May. After not receiving any NFL interest he has opted to return to Birmingham where he played in just 12 snaps in 2024. Hughes may not have seen his professional career take off the way he had hoped so far, but he showed he had the necessary skills to play in these leagues during college where he collected 8 turnovers in just 40 games spread across three seasons as a starter. During his time with the school, he also had 247 tackles, 9.5 for a loss, 1 sack, and 30 pass breakups. He just needs a chance to play. He could see that chance in 2025 with Aj Thomas now a member of the Patriots.
No other team unearths and brings in borderline NFL talent like the Stallions. Team 33 as I like to call them, has done it again with these two players, now it’s just a matter of time before they bounce back to the big league.
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