Brian Burns is setting the league ablaze. Even though it’s the Carolina Panthers bye week, the rookie linebacker has made his impact felt in each of the past six weeks. The 16th pick of the 2019 Draft has proven to be completely worth his high draft status.
Coming out of Florida State, there were various questions about Burns and if he could hold up and stay healthy at the next level. While he was never injury prone in high school or college, many were concerned about his weight. In college he never weighed more than 235 pounds. For somebody that’s 6’5” like Burns, that makes him incredibly lanky (the average outside linebacker/edge-rusher in the NFL weighs around 250 lbs). Burns was able to increase his weight while keeping his speed and been a monster ever since.
In an interview with The Athletic, Burns said this, “I was just determined to put that weight on because that seemed to be my biggest knock and my biggest concern to teams. When I set my mind to it, I just got it done regardless of how I was feeling. It wasn’t easy, but it definitely was worth it.”
Burns has been one of the unexpected bright spots on the 4-2 Panthers. After quarterback Cam Newton got hurt in Week 2 many in the media and fans as well wrote them off, but Burns helped keep their flame ablaze. The only players with a higher pressure rate than Burns are fellow rookie Nick Bosa of the 49ers and Bears All-Pro Khalil Mack. A prototypical edge rusher with length and an explosive first step, Burns has been a big-play machine, easing Ron Rivera's transition to a hybrid 3-4 scheme in Carolina. Going into their bye week the Panthers have the third ranked defense in the NFL and it seems like it can only go up from here.