Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#35. Brian Burns
I’m sure this one is going to get the people going.
Throughout most of Carolina Panthers history, the team was known for having a formidable pass rush. From the early days with Kevin Greene and Lamar Lathon, to the first Super Bowl team with Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker, to the second Super Bowl team with Charles Johnson and Kawann Short, there’s almost always been someone along the line that instilled fear in opposing offensive coordinators. That hasn’t really been the case in recent times, save for one player—Brian Burns.
The Panthers drafted Burns in the first round of the 2019 draft, and he was a welcome addition to a team that had been counting on an aging Mario Addison and an aging Julius Peppers for sack production. He immediately contributed in a rotational role as a rookie, contributing 7.5 sacks. He would follow that with consistent production from a sack perspective and elite production according to some advanced metrics. The discrepancy between the elite advanced metrics and the just-good traditional counting stats became the story of Burns’ time in Carolina. In his five years as a Panther, he averaged just over 9 sacks per season, which is good, but he frequently graded out as one of the most disruptive pass rushers. He was often the victim of his poor supporting cast, as he’d be the only player able to generate pressure, which allowed easy escape lanes for opposing quarterbacks, diminishing his raw sack totals.
Burns seemingly wanted to be paid as one of the league’s elite pass rushers, but the Panthers were hesitant to pay him that way. They still held onto him through the end of his rookie contract and franchise tagged him before ultimately trading him away for pennies on the dollar to the New York Giants. He just finished an all pro season after finishing second in the league with 16.5 sacks.
Public opinion soured on Burns later in his Panthers tenure, in part because of frustration over the sack production and probably in part because of some pre-coping with his imminent departure. But the Panthers have struggled to replicate anything like Burns’ production in the two years since he left, and it’d be mighty nice to have a player of his caliber on the line.
Burns won’t go down as one of the most beloved Panthers of all time, but his talent was undeniable. It’s unfortunate that we never really got to see how he contribute to a Panthers team that was actually competitive. Still, he did enough to earn spot number 35 on the list of top 100 Panthers of all time.
