Giants Restructure OLB Brian Burns' Contract to Gain Cap Space

Burns has been a solid addition to the Giants roster.

New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns (0) celebrates after breaking up a pass during a week 9 game between New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Giants have been busy in free agency, adding to their roster with what financial means they’ve been able to put together.

But to ensure that they will have sufficient operating funds for the expected and unexpected transactions that occur over the course of a 17-week season, the Giants have done some additional cap gymnastics.

Spotrac reported that the Giants have converted $22.75 million of outside linebacker Brian Burns’s 2026 base salary ($22.050 million) into a signing bonus, which has resulted in $15.1 million of cap space for the team to use this year.

That drops Burn’s salary to $1.3 million, which is the minimum base salary for Burns, who is going on his eighth NFL season this year, and slices his original $36.55 million cap hit to $21.383 million, per Spotrac.

The move also inflates Burns’s future cap hits to a whopping $44 million in 2027 and 2028.

Burns has been playing at a high level, where he’s in no danger of not seeing the end of his contract, originally a five-year, $141 million deal that he signed after the Giants acquired him via trade from the Carolina Panthers in 2024.

Last season, Burns made his third career Pro Bowl and earned second-team All-Pro honors after posting a career-best 16.5 sacks in 17 games played.

That sack total tied defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul’s mark for the fourth most sacks generated by a Giants defender in a single season.

Burns was also named to the 2025 All-NFC team by the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). Over his two seasons with the Giants, he has also tallied 25 sacks, 138 tackles, 39 tackles for loss, and 49 quarterback hits.

He has clearly turned out to be one of the team’s best veteran acquisitions of general manager Joe Schoen’s tenure. Burns, who turns 28 next month, has not missed a game since coming to the Giants.

The Giants are not expected to use the additional cap space for any future major free-agent signings, though they are still likely to add a player here and there as free agency moves into its second wave.

Schoen has typically tried to operate with between $10-$12 million during the season, which he's used for practice squad elevations, emergency signings due to injuries, and waiver claims.

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