One of the biggest decisions of the first year Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan had to do this offseason to trade pass rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants.

Pass rushers don’t grow on trees, but you can’t overpay for one when you’re in a rebuild either. Realizing that the Panthers and Burns would never meet in the middle of a number, Morgan was well aware of the organization’s lack of assets.

This led to trade discussions with the Giants and eventually a deal was made. The Panthers received a second-round pick in 2024, a fifth-round pick in 2024 and a fifth-round pick in 2025 in exchange for Burns and a fifth-round pick in 2024. Burns and the Giants would then agree to a five-year, $150 million contract, a numbers the Panthers weren’t willing to go to.

Even though it’s only four games into the season, Burns hasn’t produced at the level we’re all used to. He has recorded 13 tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack. In last night’s Thursday night matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, Burns failed to generate a single pass rush on 25 attempts. It’s the first time in his career in games where he had 10 or more tackles, according to SB Nation’s RJ Ochoa.

There is still plenty of season left for Burns to get back on track and some of that can be attributed to learning a new defense and players around him. But so far, it looks like the Panthers avoided a serious overpayment and instead used that money to bolster the offense with Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. And regardless of how Burns looks in New York, they made the right call by sending him out to prioritize the offensive line.

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