Did the Carolina Panthers make the right call trading Brian Burns to New York Giants?

One of the biggest decisions first-year Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan had to make this offseason was to trade away pass rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants.

Pass rushers don't grow on trees, but you also can't overpay one when you're in a rebuild. Morgan realized that the Panthers and Burns were never going to meet in the middle on a number, and was well aware of the organization's lack of draft assets.

This prompted trade discussions with the Giants and eventually a deal was made. The Panthers received a 2024 second-round pick, a 2024 fifth-round pick, and a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for Burns and a 2024 fifth-rounder. Burns and the Giants would then agree to a five-year, $150 million contract, a number the Panthers were not willing to go to.

Although it's just four games into the season, Burns has not produced at the level we are all accustomed to. He's registered 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack. In last night's Thursday night matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, Burns failed to generate a single pass rush in 25 attempts. That's the first time in his career in games where he had 10 or more attempts, according to SB Nations' RJ Ochoa.

New York Giants pass rusher Brian Burns did not generate a single pressure on 25 pass rushes against the Dallas Cowboys. It was Burns' first career game without a pressure in which he had at least 10+ rushes.

Burns matched up against Cowboys OT Terence Steele on 17/25 of his… pic.twitter.com/YvUsQqZwcx
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) September 27, 2024

There's still plenty of season left for Burns to get back on track and some of this can be attributed to learning a new defense and players around him. But to this point, it looks like the Panthers avoided a serious overpay and instead, used that money to beef up the offensive line with Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. And regardless of how Burns turns out in New York, they made the right call by shipping him out to prioritize the offensive line.

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