A four-year Ohio State cover corner and Phoenix native who came home to Arizona and immediately led the Cardinals' secondary in takeaways as a rookie.
Denzel Burke started from day one of his true freshman season at Ohio State and never let go of the job, closing out his college career with a national championship. The Phoenix native fell to the fifth round of the 2025 draft after a rough game against Oregon, but he made the Cardinals pay it forward with a productive rookie season back in his hometown.
Path to the league
Burke grew up in Phoenix, attending Brophy College Preparatory before transferring to Saguaro High School in Scottsdale. He started all 13 games as a true freshman at Ohio State in 2021, immediately locking down a starting cornerback job he held for four seasons. Arizona selected him with the 174th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Career highlights
Across four seasons and 51 appearances at Ohio State, Burke totaled 143 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two interceptions including a pick-six, 28 pass breakups and a forced fumble. He earned multiple All-America second-team recognitions as a junior in 2023 and won the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship with the Buckeyes.
2025 season recap
Burke played in all 17 games as a rookie with eight starts, recording 47 tackles, three interceptions and 11 passes defensed, both team highs in those categories, along with two tackles for loss.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Denzel Burke
- Yahoo Sports: Cardinals pick Ohio State CB Denzel Burke in NFL draft fifth round
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Defense
17 games played▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | cardinals | 17 | 49 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Cornerback
- Group
- defense
- College
- Ohio State
- Hometown
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Age
- 23
- Status
- active
