Giants Now: NFL’s most disruptive defensive players

Brian Burns among NFL’s most disruptive defensive players

The Giants’ pass rush has been one of the biggest bright spots on the 2024 season thus far, and Brian Burns has played a major role in the unit’s success.

The veteran outside linebacker is tied for second on the team with four sacks on the year, but his impact goes well beyond that.

The 33rd Team recently listed the most disruptive defensive players through the first seven weeks of the season based on the number of havoc plays they’ve created. These are plays with either a sack, tackle for loss, forced fumble, interception, or pass breakup.

Burns landed at No. 6 on the list with 13 such plays.

The 26-year-old was the Giants’ big offseason acquisition, and after a bit of a slow start to the year, Burns has really picked things up recently.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound edge rusher has registered a sack in each of the last three games, with four sacks over his last five contests. Over that same five-game stretch, he has at least one tackle for loss in every outing in addition to eight total quarterback hits.

Despite being just seven games into the season, Burns has already set a new career-high with his six passes defensed, topping his previous high mark of four.

According to Pro Football Focus, he also has 27 total pressures heading into Week 8. The analytics site has Burns ranked inside the top 10 of its edge rusher rankings this season.