Stock Up: Florida LB Amari Burney Details Breakout Year, NFL Draft Process

Florida linebacker Amari Burney looks back on his breakout season and standout NFL Draft process, a year after his football career appeared near its end.

Photo: Amari Burney; Credit: Alex Shepherd 

Nine former Gators were invited to the 2023 NFL Combine. Despite ranking top-two in sacks, tackles for loss, interceptions, pass breakups and forced fumbles for Florida to conclude his breakout 2022 campaign, linebacker Amari Burney was not one of them.

"I kind of felt some type of way about it," Burney exclusively told All Gators about the snub. 

To better understand Burney's notion, one would need to be reminded of his rise to becoming an NFL Draft prospect in the first place. The path appeared unlikely to be forged just over a year ago. 

A class of 2018 prospect from Clearwater (Fla.) Calvary Christian, Burney enrolled at Florida as a big-bodied, 6-foot-1, 215-pound safety. He had earned snaps at safety, STAR nickel corner and outside linebacker by the end of his freshman season, making a name for himself at the third spot with a sack and pass breakup in UF's 41-15 victory over Michigan in the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. 

A move to inside linebacker that offseason didn't go as well, and a significant split of reps between linebacker and slot corner through the 2021 campaign led Burney to once deem his level of play "unacceptable." Although he appeared in 33 games in that stretch, Burney only made nine starts with just two as a senior, and his tenure-long coaching staff was dismissed to cap it all off. 

He was offered a fresh start, however, as a super senior. 

Burney took advantage of his extended eligibility awarded from the COVID-19 pandemic to offer new Florida head coach Billy Napier and (now former) defensive coordinator Patrick Toney a veteran tandem at linebacker in year one of the Gators' new regime, paired with sixth-year senior Ventrell Miller.

"They kind of gave me the key and was like, 'Man, this is your and Ventrell's defense and however far you're gonna take us, that's how far we're gonna go,' " Burney recalled.

"They told me when they first got there that they believed in me and they felt like I could be a key part of the defense. I just didn't want to let them down because they had so much faith in me, and I felt like I went out there and didn't show what I could do, it was gonna be a big letdown to me and them."

He didn't disappoint anyone. 

Burney accumulated single-season career highs in each statistical category listed above, with four sacks, nine tackles for loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles. His 79 total tackles were also a personal record. 

After years of moving around Todd Grantham's former Florida defense to find a fit, Burney settled into a role that meshed with his skill set in Toney's scheme, even though it was one that continued to ask him to be versatile. The part also asked Burney to effectively communicate with teammates and help organize the unit on the field.

"They had me at WILL [weak-side] 'backer. Sometimes I played MIKE [middle]. But the WILL 'backer had so many different roles in the defense that I felt, like, kind of gave me a better look at the defense and kind of gave them like a better look at my skill set," Burney explained.

"Sometimes they had me on the edge of the ball, setting the edge, they had the blitzing, sometimes they had me in coverage and then sometimes they just had me playing regular WILL 'backer. Coach P.T., he knew how to put everybody in different positions to get the best out of the defense."

The best was extracted from Burney in Toney's scheme, awarding the fifth-year senior momentum entering his draft process. He received invitations from the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and the East-West Shrine Bowl and wanted to participate in both prospect all-star games until his agent advised him to pick one. 

Burney opted for the Shrine Bowl, a game that typically receives greater exposure. In Las Vegas again, he teamed up with the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff for a week of NFL-structured practices before collecting two tackles in the Feb. 2 matchup with fellow upperclassmen standouts.

But when Combine invitations were revealed on Feb. 8, Burney wasn't named among the 319 prospects on the list. He was going to have to wait for Florida's Pro Day on March 28 to display his athletic prowess and confirm his measurements in front of pro personnel, a crucial aspect of the draft process.

Burney's performance was "a long time coming," he remarked, and well worth the wait.

Standing 1/8-inch under 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, Burney produced a Relative Athletic Score of 9.19 out of 10 at Florida's Pro Day, the 11th-best mark out of the 240 linebackers to partake in athletic testing drills this offseason according to RAS.football's tracking. 

He posted elite marks of 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash — with a 1.62 10-yard split and a 2.57-second 20-yard split — and seven seconds in the three-cone drill. His 33-inch vertical and 10-foot broad are also considered above-average-to-good outcomes for a second-level defender. 

"I just had to be patient. I'd been working and just, to go out there and do what I knew I could do was a great feeling," Burney said. "I got great feedback from [scouts]. A lot of them were just shocked that I didn't get a Combine invite, that my 40 time was great for a linebacker my size. Broad jump, vert, bench too." 

They were also surprised to see Burney align at his former position, defensive back, instead of his current spot during individual drills before the conclusion of the event. 

Miller's absence due to a foot injury would have left Burney working out alone at linebacker, so instead, he joined safeties Trey Dean III and Rashad Torrence II and track and field star Dedrick Vanover on the field with former Pittsburgh cornerback and current Steelers scout Ike Taylor to perform in front of scouts. 

"They were just joking," Burney remembered, "like, 'You still got it as a safety.' "

Interestingly enough, Burney's father thought the same thing weeks earlier as Burney trained for a potential Combine invite and Florida's Pro Day at X3 Performance and Physical Therapy in Fort Myers, Fla.

"He was telling me like, 'Man, I think it's a good idea if you can go through the DB drills instead of the linebackers drills. Just to show how versatile you are,' " Burney shared. "And [they] just so happened that they asked me, like, 'Do you want to do the DB drills with the safeties?' My dad knowing how big that was gonna be was very funny to me."

The combination of Burney's big season in 2022 and strong Pro Day showing last month has resulted in significant interest from pro teams.

Burney traveled to Baltimore for a visit with the Ravens on Apr. 5 and attended the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' local pre-draft workout the following day. He'll travel to Jacksonville to meet with the Jaguars this week before the NFL Draft begins next Thursday, Apr. 27.

He's also met virtually or spoken on the phone with representatives from the Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. 

It's become apparent that, whether his name is called within the 259 picks next weekend or he signs an undrafted free agent contract, the league is on the horizon for a player whose football career appeared to be nearing its end when he earned his bachelor's degree in Education Sciences in the fall of 2021. 

Instead, Burney hopes this is only the beginning. 

"Even if a team doesn't draft me, or if I do get drafted, no matter what round, no matter who picks me up," Burney began to proclaim, "I'm gonna put my best foot forward to stay on the team and make my mark in the league." 

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