Former Rutgers standout Burton’s circuitous route to Super Bowl
PHOENIX >> If his Kansas City Chiefs are home for the weekend, you can rest assured that Scarlet Knights football is appointment viewing on Saturday afternoons for Long Valley native and Rutgers alum Michael Burton.
If it doesn’t feel like that long ago that the 31-yearold fullback walked on to the program himself, well…it wasn’t. But now, after wrapping up his NCAA career back in 2014, the 5-foot-11, 242-pounder is set to get the chance to win his first championship on Sunday at Super Bowl 57, the culmination of a circuitous path that started in the Garden State.
Well before staring at West Morris Central High School, Burton knew that he wanted to play his college ball in Piscataway, wanting to follow in the footsteps of the mid-2000’s teams he grew up watching, while also looking at earning the opportunity more as a way to stay close to what he called a “closeknit” community growing up over it one day being a path to the pros.
“Even when I was in middle school, I wanted to go to Rutgers,” Burton told The Trentonian in a lengthy sit-down at the Chiefs team hotel.
“I just viewed it as wanting to stay in-state, having that Jersey pride and wanting to stay there and represent myself and the team in front of family and friends. When they offered me that walk-on opportunity, it was kind of a no-brainer. I never really thought of it as a stepping stone, but when I got there, I realized quickly that this program is a stepping stone for guys to get into the NFL. They also had a great walk-on program, too. So, that definitely played a role too, but overall, I was just happy to be there.”
As his time with Rutgers progressed, and he developed into a starter and team captain, not to mention a fan favorite, that path to the NFL became more and more clear, and after some uncertainty if he’d get picked at all, the Detroit Lions took him in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, signing him to a reported four-year, $2.46 million rookie deal.
“You talk to a bunch of teams and they tell you, ‘Oh, we like you if you’re there in the late rounds and we’ll take you,’ or a priority free agent, that type of stuff,” Burton recalled. “I didn’t try to put any expectations on that weekend, just because all I wanted was a shot. Drafted or undrafted, I was just hoping for a shot. I was able to get one, and got drafted, which is great, but at the end of the day when you get to that level, you just want a shot to get your foot in the door and I was thankful to get that.”
Burton played two years for the Lions, eventually becoming their starting fullback, but was waived prior to the start of the 2017 season, claimed by the Chicago Bears for whom he also played two seasons. Signed by the New Orleans Saints, he was let go by them in their final cuts before the 2019 campaign was set to get underway, picked up by Washington, and then re-signed by New Orleans to play in 2020.
With longevity and stability hard to find for someone at his position in the league, Burton persevered despite several times where he was facing the end of the line.
“I always said to myself that this is a day-today
business, this league,” he said. “Each and every day, it’s really a job interview. You’ve got to prove yourself every single day you step in that building; practice, meetings, workouts, how you take care of yourself. I don’t try to look and say, ‘Oh, I want to play X amount of years or X amount of games,’ I just say, ‘Hey look, just make it one more day.’ That’s the expectation I set, putting your best foot forward every day, prove that you belong every single day. You stack those days, and that’s how you kind of create that longevity.”
It all paid off when he signed with the-then defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs as a free agent in 2021, where not only did he finally score his first career touchdown in his seventh year in the league, he joined a team where a deep playoff run — Burton had reached the postseason with the Lions, Bears and Saints — wasn’t a lofty
goal, it was the expectation.
“As soon as you step on the Chiefs campus and facility, you see the culture here,” Burton said.
“It’s a winning culture, and not only that, it’s a winning a Super Bowltype of culture. That is the expectation. They’ve got great leaders at the top, starting with Coach Reid, obviously, and his staff and then down to Pat (Mahomes), Travis (Kelce), Chris Jones, the leaders go on. They have it set, and you’ve got to fall in line with how things are going here or you won’t be here. They do things the right way always, it’s a very professional organization. But, you want that standard of expectations to be high. That raises your level. You want to be around the best players, you want the opportunity to compete for a world championship every single year. To be a part of that was amazing, and I’m very thankful I’m able to
be here.”
Burton said the expectation for Sunday, especially after falling just short of reaching “the big game” last year in his first season with the team, isn’t just to get to the Super Bowl, but to win it. But, even on the cusp of what could be a career-defining moment, he also couldn’t help but to reflect back to his time at Rutgers, especially with another alum, starting running back Isiah Pacheco, playing such a key role in giving him another chance at his first ring.
“He’s been an unbelievable addition to the team,” Burton said of Pacheco, who starred in scarlet from 2018-21.
“He’s high-energy, great character on and off the field. The way he runs the ball, it’s like the last time he’s going to run it. He sparks the whole organization, and just very happy that he’s here. We talk about (playing there), because he crossed over with Greg (Schiano) a little bit, as did I, so we talk about that. We loved playing for him, he’s our type of coach. He’s big on discipline and motivation and all those types of things, and we really both think that Rutgers was a stepping stone here because of the way that organization is run and how they treat us like professionals and understanding the importance of hard work and how it helps you get to this level. We do talk about it, and we’re both very thankful for our experiences at Rutgers.”
As much as Burton has been a big part of the Chiefs being able to sustain their incredible rise to success over the past few years, he’s only been able to watch from afar as his alma mater has struggled to match that against the stout opposition of the Big Ten. While he’s been unable to get back to Jersey much — he did notably get to attend a spring game recently — he remains hopeful that under Schiano, Rutgers will once again be on the rise sooner rather than later.
“I do try to follow the program as much as I can, and I try to watch games if I’m able to on a Saturday,” Burton said.
“I’m not in the building each and every day and around the players and coaches, so it’s hard to say what that might be (that’s holding them back), but having been there before, it can be a combination of things. What I do know, is he’s bringing the right coaches in, he’s bringing the right players in, and he’s got the right makeup to lead that organization. Once everything falls together and into place, that thing is going to take off.”