The Carolina Panthers had one of the worst seasons in team history last season, but all eyes seem to be on developing Bryce Young and Bryce Young solely.
CHARLOTTE, NC– The Carolina Panthers might be in trouble. And for once it’s not on offense. While the other side of the football might have a brighter future, the Panthers traded for WR Diontae Johnson and still have a young QB with heavy draft capital invested, Carolina just traded linebacker Brian Burns to the New York Giants who then subsequently got a massive five-year, $150 million deal.
Are the Panthers relegating back into rebuild mode? The Carolina Panthers should be and probably are embarrassed. Behind a first-year quarterback, the team needs to rally around him– not trade away critical pieces of the defense. Last season, the Los Angeles Rams offered to trade for Burns two first round draft picks. One in 2024 and one in 2025. The Panthers vehemently refused. Yet, not even a year later, Burns was traded for a second-round draft pick in 2024 and a fifth the year after. With Burns being traded for what feels like a sack of potatoes and a bag of chips– it begs the question, what are the Panthers doing?
The New York Giants were quick to make Burns the second-highest paid defensive end behind Joey Bosa, inking him to a $100 and a half million deal. The Panthers originally tagged Burns about a month ago but the team simply wasn’t willing to pay the massive contract that the two-time Pro Bowler wanted. Instead, the Panthers had to go to the highest bidder while retaining his rights via franchise tag to make sure they don’t let him go for bread crumbs in their hands.
The two sides had been at an impasse when Carolina held firm at valuing Burns’ performance at $27 million a year while Burns was still $3 million away at $30 million AAV. The writing was on the wall when the two seemed to go essentially nowhere as early as the end of 2022 when Burns was still on his team-friendly rookie contract.
Now, the Panthers are sans one of the NFL’s best edge-rushers. With no plans to sign a big name in free agency, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero is left scratching his head. In three years, the team that in foresight has a rookie quarterback that was the first overall pick in 2023 has gotten rid of two faces of the franchise who were first round draft picks. In 2022, the team rid themselves of running back Christian McCaffery who has shown no signs of slowing down and even progressing forward with age with the 49ers.
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According to PFF, the Carolina Panthers ranked 16th in the NFL last season in defensive grading– earning a middle-of-the-pack 73/100. Now that one of the bright spots of the defense is gone, only Panthers’ management truly knows what the outlook is like for the 2024 season. On offense, the team has refused to sign any big name talents, instead opting to rely on veterans like Adam Thielen in the receivers’ room to gain separation for Young. While the team could use the $24 million freed up in cap space to better the team in some way– such as drafting receivers and building up the offensive line.
With that argument, maybe the Brian Burns move isn’t so bad. But being burned by the opportunity cost of two first round picks in lieu of the situation that the Carolina Panthers are in now should have sirens blaring all over Charlotte. In the end, the team got rid of Burns and McCaffery– two all-stars for six draft picks. None of them were lower that No. 39.
The Panthers now hold the 33rd and 39th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Picks they will surely use to pick up Burns’ replacement. Carolina does not have a first-round pick at this time in the draft after giving theirs up to Chicago last year in exchange for the first-overall pick in which they subsequently selected Bryce Young.
Carolina has a lot of work to do– yet, can they shake the stigma around trading Burns?
