Panthers’ Brian Burns on Bryce Young, a new contract and why he chose to wear zero
Brian Burns hasn’t been taking snaps in the Carolina Panthers’ minicamp this week due to his surgically repaired ankle.
But Burns’ brain works as well as ever, and he’s had a lot of time to think while he rehabs. After minor ankle surgery in April he characterized as “nothing”, he’s supposed to be fine for training camp.
On Tuesday the two-time Pro Bowler shared a number of thoughts, on a possible new long-term contract extension as well as on rookie quarterback Bryce Young and Burns’ decision to become the first Panther to wear the number zero this season.
With Burns, an edge rusher who is undeniably the Panthers’ best player and one of their most verbose, it’s often simply better to hear what he’s thinking about directly. So let’s do that, starting with:
The contract extension
Burns has played four seasons with the Panthers, racking up 38 sacks and seven forced fumbles and making the past two Pro Bowls. He was the Panthers’ lone Pro Bowl representative last year and had a career-high 12.5 sacks.
Only 25 years old, Burns is at the peak of his marketability and should be in line for a multi-year contract averaging around or above $25 million a year for the Panthers with at least $50 million of guaranteed money. General manager Scott Fitterer has said publicly several times he doesn’t want to lose Burns, and that’s going to be the going rate.
Does Burns want to be paid like the top edge rushers in the league?
“Definitely,” Burns said Tuesday.
Would he expand on that?
No, he wouldn’t, other than saying it’s a “blessing” to be in the position of negotiating a lucrative second contract at all. Burns said the two sides are talking but that he was trying not to focus on the negotiations. A deal could be reached soon, or during training camp, or maybe not until deep in the year. Burns at the moment is playing on his rookie-year option, which the Panthers picked up for his Year 5, and will be making $16 million this season.
The highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL at the moment, according to overthecap.com, is T.J. Watt, who has an average salary of $28 million a year. Joey Bosa and Myles Garrett both have more guaranteed money in their deal, however, at around $100 million. Seven NFL edge rushers currently average at least $20 million a year (Watt, Bosa, Garrett, Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby, Bradley Chubb and Von Miller).
Burns will make it eight, and I thoroughly expect Burns and the Panthers to get a deal done. I don’t think he will become the highest-paid edge rusher in the league, but he’s going to get in the top 5-10. The Panthers absolutely must keep him. He’s a player that the Panthers have been offered two first-round draft picks for, after all, in a trade that general manager Scott Fitterer turned down. You can’t ever lose a player like that.
Wearing the number “0”
Burns said that wearing the number zero — now allowed for NFL players — has come about because he wants to symbolize the Panthers turning over a new leaf.
“There’s a lot of new things going on,” Burns said. “And like I said before, I’d never really chosen 53 (his previous number); 53 kind of chose me.”
Burns said as a rookie out of Florida State he wanted to wear No. 99 in the pros, but it was already taken with the Panthers at the time by defensive tackle KK Short. So he then put several potential numbers in a hat — presumably all in the 50s — and drew out 53.
With zero, Burns said: “The thought of being the first Panther with zero was kind of dope.”
Burns said cornerback Jaycee Horn, who had suggested previously he might wear zero this year, didn’t fight Burns for the number. He also said of the amount of money he had to pay to buy out the required number of 53 jerseys to allow him to wear zero: “That’s classified.” As for his goals this season, Burns said he’d like to get 10 sacks within the first 10 or 11 games, which would put him well on his way to another career high in sacks out of Carolina’s new 3-4 defensive system.
Burns on Bryce Young
While speaking to the media for the first time Tuesday since his ankle surgery, Burns was particularly funny about the Panthers’ new rookie quarterback.
“I don’t like him,” Burns joshed, then saying he was “just playing.”
Of Young, Burns said: “He’s put quite a stamp on a on the locker room. He walks around with this kind of humble -- excuse my language -- like ‘humble but I know I’m the sh--’ type of swag, you know? I’m saying like… he’s got it, but he’s humble with it. And he’s always happy. I don’t know…. He’s a good kid.”
Of Young on the field, Burns said: “This is a pretty complicated system that they (the Panthers’ offensive players) are running. I know It’s really complicated from his perspective. He’s smart. He’s catching on quick. Making great throws. Not making a lot of mistakes.”
This story was originally published June 14, 2023 at 9:59 AM.
