After the New York Giants acquired Brian Burns via a huge trade made in the offseason, he is looking to follow in the footsteps of other star defensive lineman that have donned the blue jersey with one notable legend being Michael Strahan. While Burns continues to get acclimated to the Giants with light fun and humorous videos, Strahan had a message to the former first round pick that will hype fans up ahead of the season.
If there is one person Burns should take advice from, it is Strahan who has accomplished so much with New York like a Super Bowl championship in 2008, recording 22.5 sacks in a single season which is first all-time tied with T.J. Watt, and many more. Burns would be given the gist in “how it was winning in New York” according to ESPN which the team hopefully looks to improve ahead of this season.
“The brief talk I had with Strahan, he told me about how it was winning in New York,” Burns said. “How electric the city is and how you are treated and whatnot.”
Giants' Brian Burns looks to elevate Giants to next level this season
Burns joins others on a stacked Giants defensive line like Dexter Lawrence, Bobby Okereke, and especially Giants' Kayvon Thibodeaux who even said each can get into the Hall of Fame with the talent they have. While talent will get you far, Burns believes it's the leadership of himself and quarterback Daniel Jones that will take the team to new heights.
“I feel like it's our responsibility to make sure the defense elevates,” Burns said via ESPN. “I put it more on the leaders and captains of the defense to raise the level of play.”
Spending the first five seasons of his career with the Carolina Panthers, he's looking to record double-digits sack for the first time since 2022 where he had 12.5 instead of eight from last season. One person that has been impressed with Burns so far in the offseason has been Giants head coach Brian Daboll.
“Yeah, any good player makes a difference,” Daboll said. “I can't quantify it. He's a good pass rusher. He's done a good job in camp. It takes 11 people to play good on defense. It takes 11 people to play good on offense, special teams. But when you have a good player, that certainly helps the other 10 players.”
Brian Burns' success will come from other Giants star defensive lineman
As mentioned before, the ultra-talented Burns joins other massively skilled defensive lineman where he speaks about his success coming from the unit rather from himself. Despite it looking “great on paper,” Burns hones in on how the chemistry between players will be vital.
“I feel like a high-end pass rusher can make his plays and be a game-changer, but at the same time, I feel like it's a unit type of thing,” Burns said. “I feel like any great pass rusher would tell you, yeah, he's good at what he does and he's great, but if it wasn't for the other three guys or the other four guys, he couldn't get that job done. So without Dex, I can't get sacks. Without me, he can't get sacks.”
“It looks great and I told the guys this, everything looks great on paper, but it comes down to our chemistry. It comes down to how locked in we are to the playbook, how much we buy in that can take us to the next step,” Burns said. “But if you look at the paper, yeah, everything looks gravy. But it's all in what you do with it.”
At any rate, the Giants are looking to improve with Burns as they were 6-11 last season which put them third in the NFC East as they open the upcoming season against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Sept. 8.
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