Giants' Acquisition of OLB Brian Burns Best Off-season Acquisition

Burns is the centerpiece in general to managerJoe Schoen's roster makeover.

Jan 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Brian Burns (0) during the second quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants’ acquisition of outside linebacker Brian Burns has been mostly well-received among fans and media outlets.  

In the latest pre-season “grading” of the Giants, Yahoo! Sports' Frank Schwab weighed in given to Giants general manager Joe Schoen for acquiring and locking up Burns on a five-year extension. 

Said Schwab, "The Giants traded a second-round draft pick for Panthers pass rusher Brian Burns. In 2022, the Rams offered two first-round picks for Burns and were denied. It's surprising the Giants were able to land the 26-year-old for such a low trade cost, though he got a five-year, $141 million contract upon the deal. That's not a bad price for an elite pass rusher."

The Giants already have a young pass rusher in Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has the potential to be elite. But without a solid second pass rusher to force a “pick your poison” scenario, there were some limitations to the Giants pass rush.

The hope is that Burns, when paired with Thibodeaux this season, alleviates those limitations.  

Interestingly, without the Burns move, one could assume Schwab would have been harsher to Big Blue. He wrote that the additions of offensive lineman Jon Runyan Jr. and running back Devin Singletary were "solid yet uninspiring moves."

Schwab noted the importance of the Giants' losses on both sides of the ball, safety Xavier McKinney and running back Saquon Barkley, saying it was “a surprise” that the Giants didn’t use the franchise tag on McKinney while admitting that although it was probably hurtful for the Giants to lose Barkley, “it probably wasn't the worst thing to pass on Barkley at the price."  

At one point, the Giants considered , which would have cost them $13.815 million. But Schoen, wanting to devote financial resources to the offensive line, decided against allocating such a large chunk of capital to a player at a fairly rich position in the draft.

Schwab didn’t seem to dislike the Giants selecting receiver Malik Nabers in the first round of the draft, but he did appear to have questions about the decision to pass on a quarterback. He deemed the Giants’ draft “average” and the decision to pass on a quarterback something that could age poorly.

All this talk about what the Giants did or didn’t do regarding personnel is speculation until the pads go on and the games start counting for something. In the case of the Burns acquisition, it will be incumbent upon the edge rusher to live up to his billing and new contract to truly justify a high grade. 

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