Brian Burns and Jalen Hurts
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New York Giants' edge-rusher Brian Burns reveals "great" changes on defense.
Brian Burns is having a sensational season, and despite the New York Giants being 2-9 this year, he should absolutely be in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Burns has a career-high 13 sacks in just eleven games, and amidst a struggling defense, his explosiveness and high motor mean that he is always a threat to get into the backfield.
Trading For And Signing Burns Was a Brilliant Move
The Giants got Burns in the 2024 offseason, sending the Carolina Panthers a 2024 second-round pick, a 2025 fifth-rounder, and a fifth-round pick swap. Once Burns arrived in East Rutherford, Joe Schoen decided to sign him long-term, giving the star pass-rusher a five-year contract for $141 million.
Yet Burns has done nothing short of exceeding those expectations. After coming up with 8.5 sacks and 13.5 stuffs in 2024, he has only upped the ante in 2025. Burns has four separate games with two sacks and has a sack in every other game except for two this season. He also has 52 total tackles, with 34 solo tackles, two forced fumbles, and seven passes defended.
With most of the defense languishing and underperforming, his effort on every snap is extremely noticeable. Despite battling through multiple injuries, his pressure rate is up, and his pass-rush win rate is among the highest in the league.
Offensive coordinators have been forced to adjust protections around him, sliding lines his way or keeping additional blockers in to slow him down. Even then, Burns continues to win with his combination of speed, bend, and improved power rushes. He consistently sets the edge in the run game, wins in early downs, and brings the heat in obvious passing situations.
Giants’ Record Should Not Prevent Burns’ DPOY Candidacy
The common knock on Brian Burns’ Defensive Player of the Year candidacy is that he plays for the Giants, which are limping towards another bottom-barrel season at 2-9. But DPOY is an individual award, and should be given to the best defensive player, regardless of their team.
Burns has played lights out and done everything that an edge rusher should do to put his team in a position of success. It is not his fault that the offense has been banged up with injuries to their own most valuable players, or that the rest of the defense has not been able to produce. He is only responsible for his own play on the field, and he has done an exceptional job of it.
However, the biggest reason why Burns should be taken seriously as a DPOY candidate is that it is simply not true that players on bad teams do not get consideration. Looking at the latest odds, Myles Garrett is the favorite to bring home his second DPOY after previously winning it in 2023.
Garrett is having a sensational season of his own and now leads the league with 15 sacks after exploding for 10 sacks in his last three games. He had five sacks against the Patriots and four against the Ravens, which are simply unheard of numbers and should win him the award if he can keep up the startling pace.
But none of that changes the fact that he plays for the Cleveland Browns, who are 2-8 and losers of three straight, which includes a loss to the equally hapless New York Jets. If he is the favorite with minus odds, why should Burns be sitting in eighth at +4500?
The other top contenders for the award include the Packers‘ Micah Parsons and the Broncos’ Nik Bonitto, both of which are playing on contending teams. But Burns and Garrett are not much different in their candidacy, and New York’s star edge rusher should be given the appropriate respect in the DPOY conversation.