{"id":221166,"date":"2026-05-05T21:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/221166\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:37:09","slug":"could-new-york-giants-lb-brian-burns-continue-elevating-his-game-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/221166\/","title":{"rendered":"Could New York Giants LB Brian Burns continue elevating his game in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 5, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

How much more can New York Giants<\/a> outside linebacker Brian Burns achieve next season?<\/p>\n

Burns reached a new level of excellence in his first season with the Giants in 2025. The Florida State product recorded 16.5 sacks and earned second-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career. Burns’ previous career high was 12.5 sacks in 2022 as a member of the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

The speed, violence, and skill Burns displayed last season were a marvel. Now 28 years old with seven NFL seasons under his belt, he approaches the 2026 season with more to accomplish, depending on how hard he strives to elevate his game.<\/p>\n

Several edge rushers have performed at historic levels in recent years. The two preeminent defensive ends in the league today, T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, both set the NFL single-season sacks record. Watt first tied Michael Strahan\u2019s then-record with 22.5 sacks in 2021. Garrett surpassed it with 23 sacks in 2025, becoming the new record holder.<\/p>\n

It’s not unrealistic to envision Burns approaching 20 sacks next season. The Florida native played as well as ever in 2025. While contending for the all-time sacks record would be a tall task, Burns has the opportunity to continue his upward trajectory.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the loss of Dexter Lawrence (traded to Cincinnati) and a new defensive system under Dennard Wilson could end up capping Burns’ production as he adjusts.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 5, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET How much more can New York Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns achieve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[679,9,11,10,87161,1941,1942,948,7697,950,930,932,947,1328,6568,949,682],"class_list":["post-221166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-accessfree","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-sourcegiants-wire","tag-sstssportsnflgiants","tag-sstsngiants","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbrian-burns","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnew-york-giants","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}