Brian Burns, Panthers ready to prove it, respond to disrespect

Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Brian Burns has not played in an NFL playoff game since being selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Those four years have been marred by losing seasons and constant coaching change.

The Panthers have had four coaches, including two interim coaches, in those four seasons and Burns is now on Coach No. 5 in Frank Reich for his fifth season. The team won seven games last year, which was tied for the most since 2017, which was the last time the franchise made the playoffs.

But with Reich, a new quarterback in Bryce Young and a suddenly wide-open NFC South, Burns and the Panthers have a serious chance at the playoffs. He said the team wants to prove it can make it.

“It’s hard to say because you know everybody has the same feeling around this time until stuff hit the fan,” Burns said. “Right now everybody has that same good feeling but like coach said yesterday man, we got to prove it. I feel like we’ve been getting disrespected for a minute, which is understandable. It’s cool. But at the end of the day we got to go out there and prove it. We got to prove that we are as good as we are on paper.”

Burns has made the last two Pro Bowls with his 2022 season being the best of his career. He notched 63 tackles to go along with 12.5 sacks and three passes defended.

While Burns is one of the leaders of the defense and the team in general, he has not received a contract extension from the Panthers.

But that didn’t preclude him from showing up at training camp. Instead of holding out, Burns showed up on the first day without any qualms.

“Nah, I was going to show up,” Burns said. “I would say mainly just because I missed it. I missed being with my defense. I kind of feel like what we’ve got going is bigger than, I don’t want to say like it’s bigger than my individual goals, because those matter of course, but I feel like what we’ve got building is bigger than that.

“I feel like I’m a key piece to what we need to get done, so I feel like I need to be here, whether or not I’m going through negotiations or whatever. But nah, it didn’t cross my mind to sit out.”

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