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Surprising NY Giants Defender Left Off SI's First-Team Quarterly All-Pro List

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Colin Keane | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 10:00 AM ET

It’s not outlandish to say that New York Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns is one of the NFL’s best defensive players through the first four weeks of the 2025 season.

Despite demanding extra attention from opposing offensive lines, Burns is the NFL’s co-leader in sacks with five (along with Los Angeles Rams’ Byron Young).

Burns also leads the league in tackles for loss and is tied for fourth in forced fumbles and tied for ninth in pressures.

If Burns keeps this pace going, he may even have a shot at the single-season sack record (22.5) and his third Pro Bowl, with higher accolades also in play.

That’s how good the 27-year-old Burns has been through four games, and now that he’s 21 games into his Giants tenure, it’s beyond safe to declare that New York’s general manager, Joe Schoen, absolutely won the trade with the Carolina Panthers in 2024 that landed Burns.

In 2024, he tallied 8.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss, a solid year, no doubt. However, 2025 has been wildly productive for Burns so far, and not even Schoen could have seen this coming.

And yet, for all Burns has done, SI.com's Matt Verderame, in his picks for the 2025 Quarterly NFL All-Pro Team, put Burns on the second team among the edge rushers, along with Nik Bonitto (Denver), while Myles Garrett (Cleveland) and Will Anderson, Jr. (Houston) received the first team nod.

Burns deserves first-team billing

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Although Garrett and Anderson are among the top edge rushers in the NFL, it's rather amazing that the league's sack leader was not given more consideration for a spot on the first-team unit.

Burns has posted at least 7.5 sacks every year since being drafted in the first round in 2019. Since coming to the Giants last year via trade, he's been tied for eighth in sacks (13.5) with Leonard Williams of the Seahawks. Burns is also 5th in tackles for loss (14), 11th in pressures (81), and tied for third in forced fumbles (3).

Burns and fellow Giants linebackers Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux form arguably the most exciting and dominant aspect of New York’s team at the moment.

With Burns being the oldest of this trio (27 years old), the Giants promise to be a nightmare to opposing quarterbacks in the coming years, provided these three can stay healthy, and provided New York does what’s required to keep them in Giants uniforms.

This article first appeared on New York Giants on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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