Signing Jaelan Phillips is Great, But Panthers Should've Just Kept Brian Burns

The Carolina Panthers have been trying desperately to find a pass rush ever since they traded Brian Burns away. They didn't want to pay him after the 2023 season, and so they franchise-tagged and traded him to the New York Giants.

This came about a year after the Los Angeles Rams offered multiple first-round picks for Burns. In every way, that period of time was abysmal for the Panthers' front office. Mistakes all around, and it cost them.

Now, the Panthers seem to have finally fixed it. Rookie Nic Scourton had five sacks, and they signed Jaelan Phillips to a $120 million deal in free agency. That's all well and good, but they should've just paid Burns.

Jaelan Phillips trails Brian Burns in key category, proving Panthers mistake

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) walks off the field after win | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Trading Brian Burns when the Panthers did was a huge mistake. They either could've extended the player who was second in sacks last season or traded him before when they could've gotten two first-round picks.

Or, they could've included him in the package for Bryce Young and kept DJ Moore, who would've helped Young develop more in his rookie season. It was a catastrophe in every possible way at every possible point.

The Panthers may have finally fixed the issues that stemmed from all that. The Young trade is complete, and he's on the upswing. The pass rush has been awful, but there are good players there now.

Phillips is a pressure machine. He doesn't rack up sacks, but he is top 10 in pressure rate, and he will transform the Panthers' D-line. Through his age-26 season, he's at 10.6% pressure rate, which is incredible.

It ranks with some of the best edges in recent memory: Maxx Crosby, Trey Hendrickson, T.J. Watt, and Brian Burns. Phillips trails Burns in that category by 0.2%, so the difference is minor. Still, it's an interesting note.

Pressure rate through age-26 season:

Brian Burns: 10.8%
Maxx Crosby: 10.8 %
Trey Hendrickson: 10.6 %
T. J Watt: 10.5 %
Jaelan Phillips: 10.6 % 👀👀👀👀

New #Panthers edge is in good company pic.twitter.com/fxCtfy6pnT
— threesandTDS (@threesandtds24) March 11, 2026

Burns just had his best year at age 27, which could happen with Phillips. But either way, this just shows that the Panthers might've been better off signing Burns instead of waiting around with a bad pass rush and overpaying for Phillips.

Burns costs the Giants $28.2 million a year. Phillips costs the Panthers $30 million per year. Burns just had a career-high 16-5 sacks in 2025. Phillips has never exceeded double digits. Phillips is a really good player, but he's not quite on Burns' level, and he costs a bit more.

It is true that the money spent on Brian Burns in 2024 would've given the Panthers a very tough time signing Damien Lewis and Robert Hunt, both of whom have been instrumental in Bryce Young's development.

New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns (0) runs the ball during the fourth quarter | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

It's also true that the Panthers will have Phillips through 2029, while Burns hits free agency again the year before that. Is that so significant that the Panthers will be better off? Not likely, especially when Burns would've helped the past two years as well.

The Panthers could've found ways to address the issues up front in 2024 without the money, which is what they've done this offseason. They entered with $10 million in cap space, and they signed Phillips for $30 million and Devin Lloyd for another $15 million.

There's a ripple effect from signing Burns, but the fact of the matter is that he's better and cheaper than Phillips. They're similar in age, so that's not a concern, either. Of course, this was largely the doing of Scott Fitterer, and Dan Morgan's finally cleaning up that mess.