Brian Burns
New York GiantsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Season Stats · 17 games
Draft & College
He went about where consensus had him.
Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.
Comps
STM Take
Tier 1 (#2) STTM finish in his second Giants season plus the 2022 Pro Bowl establishes Burns as the structural anchor of the New York pass rush. The career arc has stabilized into a consistent tier 1-2 ceiling with the 2025 finish being his highest. The 2026 question is whether Burns earns his second Pro Bowl plus 1st-team All-Pro recognition that the STTM #2 ranking implies he deserves.
Burns came out of Florida State as the Carolina Panthers' 1st-round pick (16th overall) in 2019 and made the 2022 Pro Bowl as a Panthers edge rusher. He was traded to the New York Giants in 2024 for a 2nd and 5th-round pick plus a 2025 5th. His STTM career runs tier 2 (#14) in 2021, tier 2 (#16) in 2022, tier 4 (#31) in 2023, tier 2 (#15) in 2024 first Giants year, and tier 1 (#2) breakout in 2025.
Strengths
- Tier 1 (#2) STTM finish in 2025 establishes a top-3 edge defender ceiling that the broader Pro Bowl voting has not yet fully recognized.
- Seven years of NFL starter reps across two systems plus the 2022 Pro Bowl gives him real veteran market résumé.
Concerns
- Single tier 1 finish without prior top-10 STTM history raises the question of whether 2025 was structural or a one-year context spike.
- Giants' broader defensive identity instability puts continued Burns dominance dependent on factors outside his control.
What to watch: Whether Burns earns his second Pro Bowl in 2026 plus holds tier 1 or better, the threshold for confirming the 2025 STTM #2 finish was structural.