Brian Burns is headed into 2026 with more responsibility, less help, and a bigger bill attached to his name.
That’s the reality after a 2025 season that looked like the payoff the Giants had been waiting for. Burns delivered a career-best 16.5 sacks, made second-team All-Pro, and earned his third Pro Bowl selection. Then New York changed the equation in April, sending Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati for the No. 10 overall pick and stripping away the interior presence that had helped make life easier on the edge.
Burns’ production last season was the kind of line that jumps off the page: 16.5 sacks, 67 total tackles, three forced fumbles, seven passes defensed, 53 pressures, 14 QB hits and just one penalty across 17 games. PFF gave him a 75.8 overall grade.
It was a massive leap from his first year in New York, when he put up 8.5 sacks, 71 total tackles, eight passes defensed and two forced fumbles while posting 42 stops and 61 pressures. That 2024 season earned him recognition as PFF’s most improved Giant.
The contrast between those two seasons tells the story of his Giants tenure so far. In 2024, he was a disruptive force.
In 2025, he became a finisher. And the 16.5 sacks topped his previous career high of 12.5, which he set in 2022 with Carolina.
Burns had 46 sacks over five seasons with the Panthers before the 2024 trade that cost the Giants two second-round picks and a swap.
But the challenge now is different. Lawrence was the guy who soaked up double teams and helped collapse pockets from the inside.
Even in a 2025 season that dipped to 0.5 sacks, he was still double-teamed at the highest rate of any pass rusher in the league. With him gone, opposing offenses can build their protection plans around Burns first.
That means more chip help from backs and tight ends, more slide protection, and more attention on every third down. Burns produced his big 2025 numbers with Lawrence next to him. He won’t have that same cushion in 2026.
The financial side is climbing too. Burns signed a five-year, $141 million deal when the Giants acquired him, a contract that averages $28.2 million per year and includes $76 million guaranteed and a $25 million signing bonus. New York restructured the deal this offseason, converting salary to bonus to create roughly $15.1 million in cap space and lowering his 2026 cap hit to $21.383 million.
That number isn’t standing still. Burns already triggered a sack escalator that increased his 2026 base salary by $1.8 million to $24.1 million, and he can add up to another $1.8 million in incentives if he reaches 12.5 sacks and lands First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors. So the Giants are paying premium edge-rusher money, and the price can still rise.
The help around him is young and unproven. Abdul Carter is the second-year edge rusher the Giants are counting on to take a step forward, Kayvon Thibodeaux is on his fifth-year option and entering a contract year without an extension, and rookie Arvell Reese was drafted to help stabilize the middle of the front seven. There’s upside in that group, but none of it has matched Burns’ production.
So the assignment is clear. Burns has already shown he can be the kind of pass rusher worth the picks and the money. Now he has to do it without Dexter Lawrence beside him.
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