Brian Burns doesn’t sound like a man worried about the Giants’ edge rush room. He sounds like someone who knows exactly what kind of damage it can do.
Asked whether he feels good about the group he’s heading into battle with, Burns didn’t dress it up.
"Yeah. Damn right. Who wouldn't?"
That confidence makes sense. The Giants spent the offseason reshaping plenty of their roster, but the top of their pass-rush depth chart still looks like the same kind of problem for opposing offenses: Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter. That trio has the potential to be one of the most dangerous groups in the league, and it could be even better in 2026 if the pieces around Burns take a step forward.
Burns already did his part last season. He led the NFC with 16.5 sacks, finished second only to Myles Garret's record-breaking campaign across the NFL, and earned second-team All-Pro honors for the effort. He carried the front and proved he can still be the engine of the defense when the pressure is on.
The bigger question is what Thibodeaux and Carter can add.
Thibodeaux is coming off a rough season by his standards. He posted career lows in pressures, sacks, and run stops, and he missed 29% of his attempted tackles, one of the worst marks in the NFL.
Still, the setup around him gives him plenty to chase. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal, his fifth-year option has been picked up, and the trade noise that followed him all offseason only adds to the urgency.
Every disruptive snap matters now, because every one of them can boost his value.
Carter, meanwhile, flashed as a rookie without fully cashing in on the chances he created. He finished with 66 pressures, a top-fifteen total in the NFL, but only four sacks.
Burns, by comparison, managed 16.5 sacks on just 53 pressures. That gap tells the story: Carter is getting to the quarterback, but the next step is turning those wins into finishes.
If he does that, the leap could be enormous. Even a modest improvement in converting pressure into sacks would push Carter into a different class of pass rusher, and he looks like the clearest breakout candidate on the Giants’ roster.
There are still issues to clean up. Run defense remains a concern after last season, though better play from the linebackers behind the edge group should help ease some of that burden.
But the big picture is hard to miss. The Giants have poured major resources into this position, and Burns knows the expectation now is simple: the stars have to deliver.
In 2026, this front is supposed to be more than a collection of talented names. It’s supposed to be the thing that makes the Giants dangerous.
In Other News...
Giants Camp Is Already Creating Winners Losers And Real Roster Pressure
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There were also the kinds of moments that make camp feel like a live audition, with some players helping themselves and others leaving work to do. Ben Barten and Theo Johnson were among the names who struggled, and the pressure is only going to build as the Giants keep stacking these padded practices and sorting out who can handle the speed, the contact and the expectations. Malik Nabers, coming off the knee injury that shaped his rookie year, is part of that bigger picture too, because the standard around him is already rising. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Fans Have Every Right To Hate This Holland Delpit Comparison
The Giants spent last offseason trying to patch a hole at safety after Xavier McKinney left in 2024, and Jevn Holland was the player they chose to bring in on a three-year, $45.3 million deal. It was a bet on name value, upside and a fresh start in the secondary, but the comparison that keeps hanging over the move is hard to ignore when another safety from the same class of contract talk has looked far steadier.
Grant Delpits three-year, $48 million extension in Cleveland only sharpens the edge of it, because the money is close enough to invite the comparison and the on-field results have not been. Hollands 2025 season never matched the price tag, and the gap in production has made the Giants decision look even more costly, especially for a team that already watched McKinney walk and had hoped his replacement would settle the position instead of reopening the debate. [Read more 🡒]