The New York Giants had only made a few small moves in free agency thus far, but they are set to make a massive splash with one of the best pass rushers in the league. Per CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones, the Giants and the Carolina Panthers have agreed upon a trade for Brian Burns.
The Panthers will receive a 2024 second-round pick (No. 39 overall) and a 2025 fifth-round pick in the deal, according to the MMQB. As part of the sign-and-trade, Burns agreed to a five-year, $150 million deal with the Giants that includes $87.5 million guaranteed, per Jones. Burns is set to be the second-highest-paid pass rusher in the NFL in terms of average annual salary ($30 million) behind only Nick Bosa at $34 million per year.
Burns received the non-exclusive tag by the Panthers last week, so he would have receive a guaranteed salary of $22.3 million in 2024. He's coming off a season during which he finished with 40 pressures, eight sacks, 18 quarterback hits and a 11.1% pressure rate.
Burns, who played defensive end in previous seasons, lined up as an outside linebacker for the majority of snaps last season -- making him eligible for a linebacker's salary as a result of the tag. Burns was allowed to negotiate with other teams as a result of the non-exclusive tag.
If the Giants decided to just sign Burns and the Panthers didn't match it, they would have had to surrender two first-round picks to Carolina -- hence both sides hammering out a deal.
The Giants have Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari as their top edge rushers along with Dexter Lawrence as an interior pass rusher, making Burns a tremendous asset to a unit that finished 29th in pressure rate at 31.7% last season. The Panthers are in the midst of a rebuild and fetched draft compensation by dealing Burns.
Full contract details: Guarantees - $25M signing bonus, 2024 base salary ($18M), 2025 base salary (22.25M). His $22.25M base salary in 2026 is guaranteed for injury at signing; $10.75M of the 2025 salary is fully guaranteed at signing. Here are the cap hits by year: 2024: $23.5M 2025: $27.75M 2026: $28.75M 2027: $30.5M 2028: $30.5M
Here are some quick grades on the deal:
Giants: A
Give credit to the Giants for addressing a pass rush that was one of the worst in the NFL and adding one of the game's top edge rushers -- only giving up a 2024 second-round pick and 2025 fifth-round pick to get Burns. New York still has Kayvon Thibodeaux (23) and Dexter Lawrence (26) to pair with Burns (25), creating one of the best pass rushing units in football.
Is $30 million too steep for Burns? Not with the rate for edge rushers going up and the salary cap increasing, especially since pass rush is paramount in today's NFL. The Giants have prioritized the pass rush over the past few years, with Burns the first step toward a massive rebuild in the trenches.
New York is a better team with Burns on the defense.
Panthers: C+
The Panthers were already one of the worst teams in the NFL, and became worse by trading Burns -- not getting a first-round pick in return. Not wanting to sign Burns have placing the non-exclusive tag on him is one thing, but dealing him and not getting a first-round pick back for one of the game's top pass rushers is head scratching.
Sure the No. 39 pick has merit for a team that gave away the No. 1 overall pick last year, but it's hard to fathom why Carolina wouldn't try to retain one of the best pass rushers in football. Trading away good players on a bad team doesn't make a bad team better, but the Panthers were probably looking at things long term here.
New regime means change, even if the same defensive coordinator (Ejiro Evero) returned. The Panthers needed to get more back for Burns.
