Brian Burns is the top breakout candidate for the Panthers in 2020. With Mario Addison and Bruce Irvin out of the picture, Burns will be starting this year and should make a much bigger impact than he did as a rookie.
Watch Burns putting in work preparing for the season down in Florida.
We probably won’t see much of Burns dropping back in to coverage this year, but it sounds like Carolina’s new coaches plan to use him more and in different ways than Ron Rivera did.
Speaking with reporters on Zoom yesterday, defensive coordinator Phil Snow said first-rounders have to play, especially Burns.
As a rookie, Burns totaled 7.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits despite relatively limited playing time. He was on the field for just 43% of the team’s defensive snaps.
Snow also said the Panthers want to be multiple and mentioned Burns.
This means we could see more of Burns at linebacker despite the switch back to a 4-3 defense.
