The New York Giants’ biggest offseason addition came when they acquired edge rusher Brian Burns in a trade from the Carolina Panthers in the heat of free agency.
General manager Joe Schoen & Co. most certainly paid a big price for Burns as they had to surrender draft capital and then handed out a lucrative deal for their newest edge rusher.
Clearly, Schoen saw something in Burns that made the price worth it.
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Burns was recently ranked a top 10 edge rusher by NFL executives, coaches, and scouts:
10. Brian Burns, New York Giants
Highest ranking: 6
Lowest ranking: Unranked
Age: 26
Last year’s ranking: 7Burns looked poised to crack the top five but lost momentum, needing tiebreakers to take the 10th spot.
The consistent top-10 performer has one double-digit-sack season since 2019, and his last year in Carolina wasn’t stellar, leading to a trade to New York. To be sure, a contentious contract standoff could have affected his play. And the Panthers rarely held leads, diminishing third-down rush opportunities.
Burns is the only player in the top 10 without a single top-five vote.
“He has everything you want in the position and will always be productive — the only thing he’s lacking is that elite power,” an NFL coordinator said.
The list is generated by gathering input from over 80 voters where they give their top 10 players at a position and ESPN then ranks the players based on those votes.
Burns dropped his rank from seven to 10 this year. However, he could take a significant jump in these rankings next year given the talent on the front seven he will be playing with this season. Between Bobby Okereke, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dexter Lawrence, this is likely the most talent Burns has played around during his NFL career.
Given the lucrative deal the Giants gave Burns, they are counting on him to play like a top-10 pass rusher.