New York Giants 2025 Training Camp Preview: OLB Brian Burns

Is Brian Burns going to return to double-digit sack form for the New York Giants in 2025?

New York Giants edge rusher Brian Burns should be in for a big season in 2025 | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

In the 2024 NFL offseason, the Giants made waves by trading for Carolina Panthers star edge rusher Brian Burns, then gave him a five-year contract extension.

Before the trade, Burns had spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Panthers and accumulated 46 sacks in that time.

In his first year with the Giants, Burns played in all 17 games and registered 61 pressures on the season, which tied for 13th among edge rushers for the season.

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Brian Burns, OLB

Height: 6-5
Weight: 250
EXP: 7 Years
School: Florida State
How Acquired: T-CAR

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2024 in Review

The 2024 season was an inconsistent year for the Giants' pass rush, due in part to players adapting to the new defensive scheme and a series of injuries that piled up throughout the year.

Under defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, the pass-rush plan evolved, and edge rushers were asked to play more nuanced roles, still dropping into coverage but operating in a more complex manner. 

This change just so happened to suit Burns’s style, as he went on to thrive in that role, having done so throughout his career with the Panthers. 

Dropping into coverage is an underrated part of the game for an edge rusher like Burns, but it’s what many are asked to do more often in modern defensive schemes.

Despite not picking up the sacks like usual, Burns generated the second-most pressures of his career with 61 in 2024.

Contract/Cap Info

After trading for Burns in 2024, the Giants made Burns one of the highest-paid edge rushers in the NFL with a five-year contract worth $141 million. The contract has a total guaranteed amount of $ 87.5 million and a fully guaranteed amount of $76.5 million at signing.

Burns’ total contract value still stands as the fourth-highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL after a contract extension to Myles Garrett bumped Burns down from third.

In May 2025, Burns agreed to a restructured contract that would lower his salary in 2025 but increase his prorated signing bonus from $7 million per year to $11 million per year.

Burns has two fully guaranteed years remaining in 2025 and 2026, followed by no guaranteed salary in 2027 and 2028. 

With the way this contract is shaped, Burns should be looked at as completely untouchable until after this season at the minimum, and moving him before 2027 should be viewed as highly improbable.

2025 Preview

The Giants are set to have one of the most dominant defensive fronts in the NFL, with Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dexter Lawrence all returning, as well as the addition of rookies Abdul Carter and Darius Alexander.

Lawrence has emerged to become arguably the best interior defensive lineman in football, and teams will need to decide whether they want to gameplan for him or Burns.

Burns could be put in a better position to succeed by moving him around the defensive front more often, as he rarely switched sides of the line during games in 2024, usually playing the overwhelming majority of his snaps on one side of the line.

The Giants'efensive secondary and run defense should be also improved 2025 hopefully leading to opposing offenses being forced into more obvious passing situations where the pass rush can pin their ears back and rush.

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