He had a positive first season for the New York Giants, but Brian Burns is already being tipped to “improve” in 2025, thanks to “something new” about his role on defense.
The edge-rusher cost the Giants a pair of draft choices, including a top-40 selection last year. While he produced a solid return of 8.5 sacks, more is still expected of the former first-round pick for the Carolina Panthers in the 2019 NFL draft.
Getting more from Burns will require the Giants tapping into his versatility in creative ways. Fortunately, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen has already made a comparison between how he might use Burns and this year’s third-overall pick Abdul Carter.
Bowen told reporters, “we gotta find ways to get the guys that can impact the game on the field. So there’s some versatility there, obviously with Abdul, he did a little bit of that suff off the ball in college, early on in his career, so there is some versatility there, some versatility in what we could potentially do with Burns as well.”
Those words prompted Talkin’ Giants to note “Burns only logged 28 snaps last year off the defensive line. Something new in the works?”
When being asked about the EDGE room, Shane Bowen mentions there’s some versatility with Brian Burns the defense could do. Burns only logged 28 snaps last year off the defensive line. Something new in the works?
Coming up with new ways to deploy his edge-rushers is key for Bowen after the Giants added Carter to a mix already featuring Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Burns’ ability to play at a remove from the line of scrimmage will be crucial to the Giants’ plans.
Brian Burns Set for More Active Role With Giants
Moving Burns off the front will create some guesswork for opposing blockers and quarterbacks about what the best pass-rusher on Big Blue’s defense will do after the snap. The idea he’ll do anything other than blitz will be credible because Burns has the athleticism to make playing in space a plus.
The 27-year-old showed Bowen and his staff what he could do when they had him bail into coverage against the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. Burns dropped underneath a route, tracked the ball and should’ve snatched a “pick six,” per Dan Schneier of CBS Sports.
The #Giants were getting so much pressure in Week 3 that when they dropped Brian Burns into coverage, it came THIS close to leading to a game over pick six.
Or maybe I should be more focused on the Deshaun Watson side of things. This dude is absolutely cooked as an NFL QB.
There’ll be greater freedom to move Burns around more often if Thibodeaux and Carter are dominating the edges of pass protection. Having the trio alternate positions will also create mismatches for the Giants against both phases of an offense.
Moving 6-foot-5, 250-pounder Burns off the ball can let the Giants load the box against the run on early downs. Priorities change in passing situations, but aligning Burns next to Carter or Thibodeaux would create an overload on one side of the line and force protection to slide, leaving openings for other game-wreckers up front.
Those other disruptors include Carter, who can be a roving terror in the right plan. His prospects will be helped by All-Pro nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II continuing to demolish the interior.
Lawrence and Carter should ensure Burns sees one-on-one matchups. The gifted veteran can exploit those assignments with one core trait.
Key Skill Can Inspire Brian Burns’ Revival
New faces on the field practicing more creative destruction from the playbook ought to inspire a banner campaign from Burns. That’s the view of NFL.com Analyst Marc Ross, who explained why the Giants’ front seven is “a pick-your-poison situation that won’t be fun for the opposition. Burns will surely face his share of double-teams, but he should regularly feast when presented with one-on-one matchups, leading me to think a double-digit sack and Pro Bowl campaign are on tap for the seventh-year pro.”
The logical here is clear. Any team relying on single blocking against one of the studs up front for the Giants risks letting another run riot.
Burns can run more than most after he “had the 5th most pressures under 3 seconds last year. And out of all EDGE rushers with 300 pass snaps, Burns has the fastest average time to pressure in the NFL,” according to Talkin’ Giants host Justin Penik.
Brian Burns had the 5th most pressures under 3 seconds last year. And out of all EDGE rushers with 300 pass snaps, Burns has the fastest average time to pressure in the NFL
Being able to close on the passer quickly should make Burns a marked man among offensive lines, but that’s the advantage for the 2025 Giants. They simply have too many moveable seek-and-destroy rushers for teams to account for all of them.
Stopping at least some of them will demand knowing where they are before the ball is snapped. That’s going to get harder if Bowen keeps Burns on the move.
