At last, a resolution is coming in the Brian Burns saga. Two years after Burns became extension-eligible, he is being traded. The Giants will be the team to pay the franchise-tagged player now.
The Giants are sending the Panthers second- and fifth-round picks for Burns, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. This deal will also come with an extension. New York will give Burns his long-sought-after extension, signing off on a five-year deal worth up to $150MM. The contract includes $87.5MM in guarantees. The Giants held an extra second-round pick from the 2023 Leonard Williams trade; that will come in handy as the team replenishes its pass rush.
Carolina-New York conversations on Burns had taken place for a stretch, and with the Panthers pausing extension talks for the 2019 first-round pick, that will lead to a scenery change. The Panthers kept Ejiro Evero in place as DC, and GM Dan Morgan was in the front office during Burns’ negotiations last year and when the Rams made a monster trade offer — one that far surpasses this actual haul — in 2022. But the Panthers were unable to complete a deal. They will now take what they can get and move on.
This moves comes nearly 18 months after the Rams proposed two first-round picks and a third for Burns at the 2022 trade deadline. In the aftermath of the Matt Rhule firing, the Panthers balked and prepared extension talks with Burns in 2023. Those conversations did not produce an agreement, and it did not sound like anything was close last year. The sides broke off talks before the season, and although more trade offers — not on the level of the Rams proposal — came out, the then-Scott Fitterer-run Panthers stood pat.
Burns has not been a top-tier edge rusher, having recorded one 10-plus-sack season (12.5 in 2022) in his five-year career. But the Giants will bet on the Florida State alum’s consistency. Burns has tallied at least 7.5 sacks in each of his NFL slates. He totaled eight last year. The former Ron Rivera-era Panthers draftee has tallied between 18 and 22 QB hits over the past four seasons. Burns’ 46 career sacks rank 12th in the NFL since 2019.
The Giants took a bit to reinvest in their edge positions following the Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon trades, but they took Azeez Ojulari in the 2021 second round. That was a Dave Gettleman-era move, and Ojulari did not play well in 2023. Ojulari only totaled 2.5 sacks in 11 games, undercutting Thibodeaux’s breakout to a degree. The Giants will pay up for Burns to go with Thibodeaux’s rookie deal, which can run through 2026 via the fifth-year option. While Burns’ AAV is not yet known, anything north of $28MM (T.J. Watt‘s deal) would bump him into second place behind only Nick Bosa among edges.
This wraps a long-running partnership for the Panthers, who had struggled to complement Burns on the edge. Yetur Gross-Matos and Justin Houston were unable to adequately do so, with hybrid performer Frankie Luvu — who is signing with the Commanders — being Carolina’s other top LB pass rusher. Gross-Matos and Marquis Haynes are free agents now. The Panthers will be in dire need at this premium position, and Monday saw a few of this year’s top edge players choose destinations already. The draft stands to be an avenue for the rebuilding team.
WOW! Dude wants a MASSIVE contract. Why not just sign Hunter and save all that draft capital?!
He’s three and a half years younger than Hunter and they basically only gave up the draft capital they got for trading Leonard Williams.
So are they happy they traded DJ Moore to the Bears instead of Burns? Or sad? Hmmmmm
Panthers don’t know what they are doing apparently.
And as long as David Tepper owns the team, that will never change…
well they r getting him for basically free . a top tier talent for pennies
Free??? Top tier????
15,000,000,000 pennies to be exact
A lot of money, but not signing Saquon and Xavier freed some up. Decent draft compensation, but then again, they just got a 2nd and a 5th for Leonard Williams so it’s close to a wash. Not a bad day for Giants fans. I’m sure the usual doomers will complain and talk about how this is the worst move in history, but I like it.
A day when the Giants let their best player sign with their historical tormenters in Philadelphia is an LOL day.
lol, RBs grow on trees and Saquon got a bag. If Philly wants to spend that amount on Saquon, I’m fine with it. How are your Jets doing, btw. Awful quiet from the second tenants of MetLife.
The Jets are joint occupants of MetLife Stadium and they did a few signings of their own on the first free agent day.
The Saquon pass was probably a good one, but I’d have thought that they’d like to re-sign McKinney. Obviously he’s not a max contract type of player, but he’d have been helpful on the backend in a defense which will need to find a new starter there. It would have been nice, but it’s not the end of the world, either.
Wow. Good move for both teams (IF the Panthers draft well).
Panthers could have had two 1st. Now they have a 2nd and a 5th.
That ship sailed a couple years ago. Potentially a good deal for them NOW.
You do realize that having those two extra 1st’s would prolly allow the Panthers to have the 1st overall pick NOW. Hindsight is 20/20. Just saying.
Terrible move for the Giants, they are basically in full rebuild, why are they trading draft capital. This team will just be starting to get competitive when his contract is half done.
Burns is good but $30MM a year is insane. A Micah Parsons is going to take some team to the cleaners on his next contract
Remember when the Rams offered 2 first rounders? Lmao
Pepperidge Farm remembers
That was…I mean, there aren’t words to describe the incompetence here.
Edge players are becoming so cheap. I don’t know why anybody would spend this much money on an edge.
How lol? BOSa just a huge contract. Hunter will probably get 30 mill a year
Edge players are becoming cheap? Did you see how much money Greenard got today?
Yea there will seemingly be a swing in draft to find the Brock Purdy of the DE. Simply can’t afford a 40m qb and a 30m de. And another 40m just protect the qb on the edges. 110 million for 4 people. lol
Running backs are being signed quick now after last year, it’s just shuffling money around until the formula breaks and they go back to another one. High price quarterbacks are next unless you’re top 10. It’s better to have 5 years with a noodle arm and beer gut than Daniel jones with a decent contract.
I agree
Classic bad team move. G-men needed offensive help, not D. Another .500 or less season on the horizon.
That will have to come in the draft. There is no one out there worth signing at wr this year.
Could have traded for Tee in Cinny. Point is they focused picks and cash on D not O. How is that going to help an average QB w/ a HC & GM on the hot seat? To me, it’s a bad look and move.
Oh they very much needed both.
Honest question. As an ‘offensive minded’ HC that was part of a bad deal on Dan, wouldn’t you want to try and help him rather than risk your job giving up picks for a D player? Now if the Giants trade back in round 1 and pick up more picks and build around Dan, fine. But otherwise, it’s just a bad deal to me. And that’s nothing against Burns; solid player.
The Giants should shore up the line and acquire a high end pass catcher because they should shore up the line and acquire a high end pass catcher, not because they’re trying to prop up the Jones contract. In acquiring and signing Burns, they locked in a guy who can be part of the core of the next competitive Giants team, which will be some time after this year, when Jones is presumably no longer on that contract.
Good point. But the next competitive NYG team will be w/ a different HC and GM is my bet. Like I say, Burns is a good. But wasted cash and draft capital for the current guys.
Hey, it’s better to have a GM try to make good moves than have a GM desperately flail to keep his job. It actually makes him more trustworthy to keep his job. Jason Licht is a pretty damn good GM these days and he made some rough, rough moves in his earlier days. Sometimes there’s something to be said for letting guys stick around. (Unless they’re chaotically bad drafters for years on end who also make bad trades and drive drunk like Steve Keim.)
Giants had the 26th ranked defense in the league and lost Leonard Williams during the season, Xavier McKinney in FA, and Adoree Jackson. They also finished 29th in sacks despite a super blitz-heavy defense. To say they don’t need “D” help is absolutely insane.
They still have a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th round picks to address the offense, so this move in no way precludes them from also getting “offensive help”.
I beg you to familiarize yourself with the Giants even a little bit if you’re going to constantly post about them.
Unlike you, I’m quite familiar w/ the Giants. You are the only person that thought signing Danny to a mega deal last offseason was a good deal. And you’ll come screaming back how they can get out of the deal next year, yes I know. I’ve heard it plenty.
So now the Giants have a .500 GM, HC, & average-at best-QB1 all on the hot seat. How often does that turn out to be a successful season?
They are in a complete rebuild, trading picks was hyper stupid.
Could have got two first for him. Or one and a 3 at trade deadline. Why they hold during builds beats me.
Refusing two first from the Rams for a player whose negotiations were going nowhere is one of the bigger own-goals in recent memory.
Reminds me of the Seahawks trading for DL help at the deadline to not sign them and move on. Some things seem like these people in charge don’t mind losing.
What are you talking about? Seattle resigned Williams…….
I’m speaking of previous years. 2 times in 3 years. A DL at deadline and let them walk. The last one was a good fat man with a girls name. Lol
It’s an eye-popping number, but giving a top 12 or so edge rusher with a lot of prime years left $30m per year feels a lot less crazy on a day when two different guards got $20m per year. And the trade return is barely more than they got for Leonard Williams. The Giants still have a lot of work to do, but this strikes me as a well worthwhile move to add a core piece at a valuable position of need.
7.5 sacks gets you 30mil over 5 these days. Wow. I agree. Sets up 10 sacs+ at 40+. The cowboys will have to pay Parsons 5/45 lol
Judging a player strictly by sack totals isn’t fair. Especially since he played fewer snaps against the pass than in previous years because the Panthers were usually losing, so other teams ran the ball a lot more.
If that’s the case. Bobby Wagner worth 20million easy.
Giants are one of the worst run teams in football over the last 5 years.
Burns shouldn’t have to make much of an adjustment then because the Panthers are run just as badly with Tepper.
Accurate.
Giants are the worst run franchise currently, no team that has like 1 good player trades draft capital to have 2 good players.
Draft an edge or tackle then take Penix on the second and let Jones play for the season.
Holy crap did Carolina mess this up.
The Rams tried to give Carolina a massive payday for Burns last year. Carolina said no, and then somehow I suppose just refused to acknowledge that they’d need to re-sign him to what would now be a much more lucrative deal? This is one of the worst trade mistakes that I’ve ever seen, as much as that sounds like exaggeration. True incompetence, and I wish that that was hyperbole.
somehow I suppose just refused to acknowledge that they’d need to re-sign him to what would now be a much more lucrative deal?
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I have no sympathy for teams with owners that think they know more than GMs do, but that’s a whopper of a mistake. Can you afford “x”, and does it make sense to extend them in the current environment are the two questions you should ask every day, about every player.
That’s kind of my point, though. The Panthers should have certainly considered this when they refused to trade Burns a year ago. By turning down that deal, they not only lost out on the massive return, they essentially gave Burns every ounce of leverage in demanding a “max” contract. Burns, or rather his agent, knew that Carolina had let two firsts go by, and had invested a first already in selecting Burns originally.
There was no chance, especially with a losing, dysfunctional team that had fired three coaches since Burns’ arrival (all on his rookie deal), that Burns was going to demand anything less than a top money deal. Carolina really should have expected that he would be that expensive. Not being prepared to pay that price really should have prompted to take a good trade, let alone a potentially franchise altering return. This return could be acceptable in a vacuum, but in conjunction withe move from last year, it’s inexcusable for the old regime.
This so much reminds me of the Rockies. Extend Arenado for too much money, then not have enough money to extend Story. Then lose Story for a draft pick. Then, not being competitive without Story, trade Arenado at a huge loss. Then, lacking a 3B, sign Bryant to a humongous contract.
It’s like some teams cannot see more than one year down the road. They could’ve had two #1s for Burns, the overall #1/1 this year, last year’s #1-10, DJ Moore, and a couple of other minor picks.
Brian Burns was a good citizen on the Panthers. However, his comment regarding not giving full effort last season due to contract concerns was troubling. His asking price was too high. He’s not worth the price, and the Panthers are better off investing the money elsewhere. Yes, the Panthers should have jumped on the two first round picks and extra. That was bungled but the best thing is to move forward and take advantage of the 23 million savings on the cap.