Giants OLB Brian Burns Off to Mixed Start for Big Blue

So far, New York Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns has been okay in his Big Blue debut.

Not great, which is what the Giants were likely hoping for when they sent the higher of their two second-round draft picks this year and a 2025 fifth-round selection to the Panthers to acquire him before signing him to a whopping five-year, $141 million contract. But okay.

Burns currently has one sack and three quarterback hits to go along with ten total tackles (two tackles for loss) and three pass breakups . Beyond the visible stats, Burns’s first season as a Giant has been a mixed bag. 

Before the game against the Cowboys, Burns generated 15 pressures on 84 pass rushes this season (17.9%), the highest pressure rate of his career.

But against the Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle Terence Steele, whom Burns, according to NFL NextGen Stats, faced on 17 of his 25 pass-rushing attempts, Burns failed to record a single pass-rush pressure, the first game of his career (minimum of ten pass-rushing snaps)  in which he failed to record at least one pass rush pressure.

His lone credited quarterback hit came after a scrambling Prescott threw the ball for an 11-yard gain to fullback Hunter Luepke in the first quarter.  

Again, good but not good enough. And Burns knows it. 

“I’m just taking it one day at a time, focusing on myself, looking in the mirror, and trying to capitalize on the plays, the opportunities that I get,” he said after the game. 

“The times I do get one-on-ones, the times I do have time to get to the Q, just trying to affect the game any way I can.” 

Despite his sluggish start, his teammates know what he can do and still believe in him.

“Spider is an amazing athlete,” said inside linebacker Micah McFadden, referring to Burns by his nickname. “He’s been doing it at a high level for many years.  

“He might not be playing to the standard that he holds himself, but we all believe in him. Not just him, but the entire defense has more, and we’re prepared to put that on film.”

Let’s hope that over the next several weeks, the defense puts whatever else they have in themselves out there.