Brutal Brian Burns injury update gives Giants harsh reality check about potential trade for QB

While the New York Giants improved to 2-1 on the season via an ugly 12-7 home win over the lowly Tennessee Titans (0-3) on Sunday afternoon, that win came at a high cost. 

The victory may also serve as a reminder regarding what the Giants can't afford to do this fall. 

Giants to be without key defensive figure through rest of season

On Monday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport shared that Giants star pass-rusher Brian Burns "is believed to have torn his ACL" against the Titans. Of course, such a setback would end Burns' season. 

It's the latest brutal blow for a Giants team that lost starting quarterback Jaxson Dart for at least the rest of the regular season due to the knee injury he suffered in New York's loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 21. Burns finished the 2025 regular season ranked second in the league with 16.5 total sacks. 

How Brian Burns' setback could impact Giants' plans moving forward

Before Sunday's action got underway, NFL insider Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that the Giants were "actually going to be pretty aggressive" as it pertains to acquiring a quarterback or two as soon as this week. Backup Jameis Winston has served as New York's temporary QB1 since Dart went down, but Winston has mostly failed to impress since the Week 2 loss to the Rams. 

In total, Winston has completed 25 of 49 passes (51 percent) for 229 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Per ESPN stats, he began Monday ranked last in the league among qualified players with a 22.9 adjusted QBR for the campaign. 

On Sunday, NFL reporter Mark Maske of Front Office Sports added his name to the list of those who have pointed out that an advertised contender almost certainly won't be in a hurry to trade a reliable and decent backup quarterback to the Giants anytime soon due to fears related to possibly losing its starter to an injury. While stories have linked the Giants with some recognizable names, none of those signal-callers will likely move the needle in the eyes of Big Blue fans. 

The Giants weren't seen by most analysts as Super Bowl contenders before Dart went down, and the defensive side of their roster is now weaker than it was before the Titans game got underway. As much as some New York fans may want the club to spend big to acquire a backup such as Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers, first-year Giants head coach John Harbaugh wisely seems to think such a trade would be foolish and instead plans to stick with Winston through at least the club's Week 4 home game versus the 1-2 Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 4. 

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Giants as 1.5-point home underdogs against the Cardinals.