Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan knew it would be a tough decision, but he made it anyway.
Early in free agency, the Panthers elected to trade outside linebacker Brian Burns to the New York Giants for a 2024 second-round pick (No. 39 overall) and a 2025 fifth-round pick. It was a haul drastically worse than the deal offered to the Panthers during the 2022 season when Burns still had his fifth-year option up for grabs.
Recently, Morgan revealed why he pulled the trigger on a Burns trade during the 2024 offseason when the former Pro Bowler's trade value was arguably at an all-time low.
"You know, those are always difficult conversations and, and decisions that you have to make from the seat that I'm in," Morgan said on a virtual press call Monday. "We love Brian. The player he is, the person he is, but sometimes you've got to make tough decisions, and the salary cap along with draft capital that we got, we felt like it was, you know, time to pull the trigger and make a move.
"We felt like the timing was right. And yeah, those are always tough decisions, but we had to make it, and we feel OK about it."
Though the Panthers felt good about the decision to move on from Burns, ultimately replacing him with D. J. Wonnum, it doesn't excuse the fact that the organization strung Burns along when they could have parted ways and earned more draft capital if they had come to a conclusive decision sooner.
Still, Carolina can't litigate the past. It has to keep moving forward. Even if it means Morgan was willing to take less for Burns to obtain a clean slate.
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