The Giants will be featured next month in a new offseason installment of Hard Knocks, and the release of the show’s trailer today indicates that they think they got a good deal when they acquired Brian Burns in a trade from the Panthers.
In the trailer, Giants General Manager Joe Schoen is shown discussing the possibility of trading for Burns with Giants head coach Brian Daboll. In the clip, Schoen says he thinks the price would be two second-round draft picks.
“What about Brian Burns, have you looked at Brian Burns? We would have to trade, like, two twos, and then you’d have to pay him, $28-$29 million,” Schoen told Daboll.
But when the trade happened, the Giants only had to give up a second-round pick, a fifth-round pick and a swap of fifth-rounders. The Giants got Burns for less than they expected, which may mean that if the Panthers had driven a harder bargain they could have received more.
It also serves as a reminder that the Panthers reportedly turned down an offer from the Rams in 2022 in which the Rams were willing to give up a 2024 first-round pick, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick for Burns. For the Panthers to turn down so much and then end up trading Burns for so little shows how much the team botched its handling of Burns.
Schoen was right about how much Burns would cost in terms of his contract, as he signed a five-year, $141 million contract, which works out to $28.2 million a year.
