Although the 2024 free agency period has yet to start, it appears as if the Carolina Panthers will be without one of their key players on defense, Brian Burns. However, the loss of their defensive anchor comes by way of a trade.
It was reported on Monday that the Panthers are trading Burns to the New York Giants. And that does not sit well with Carolina superfan country music superstar Luke Combs. In fact, a number of huge deals the Panthers have been a part of recently he has not been fond of. So much so that the country music star took to social media to air out his grievances.
“Panthers WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!? No first round pick for McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just fire bombing the whole team here or what? I usually don’t comment on these kinds of things but it’s just becoming slow torture at this point,” said Combs via X.
As Combs highlighted, the Panthers missed out on getting first-round compensation for all-pro running back Christian McCaffrey. Instead, they sent him to the San Francisco 49ers for a second, third, and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft and a fifth-round pick in the upcoming 2024 draft.
The Panthers are absent their first-round pick in this year’s draft, which would have been the number one overall pick, thanks to a trade with the Chicago Bears to move up and select Bryce Young as the future franchise quarterback last season.
As for Burns, Carolina sent him to New York for a second-round and fifth-round pick. The Giants then turned around and made the former Panthers defensive end the second highest paid at his position with a new five-year $150 million deal with $87.5 million guaranteed.
More on Burns
Burns was selected with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Florida State by the Panthers, spending the first five seasons of his NFL career with Carolina. Since his time in the league, Burns has recorded 246 tackles, 46 sacks, and eight forced fumbles. Making two Pro Bowl selections in back-to-back seasons following standout seasons in 2021 and 2022.
Burns recorded 7.5 sacks in his rookie season, followed by consecutive 9.0 sack seasons, before posting a career-high 12.5 sacks in 2022, along with a career-high 63 total tackles. Following his breakout season in 2022, he sought out a long-term with the Panthers, but instead, Carolina picked up his fifth-year option.
In his most recent season, Burns started in all 16 of Carolina’s games for the second consecutive season. He ended the year with 50 tackles, 8.0 sacks, two defended passes, and a forced fumble. He’ll look to continue building on the impressive foundation of his young career in the Big Apple.
On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this story
More must-reads: