3 reasons Brian Burns shouldn’t be included in Deshaun Watson deal
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers need to draw the line somewhere
Getting held to ransom is not going to work out well for the Carolina Panthers in their bid to acquire Deshaun Watson.
Giving up the farm for a substantial quarterback upgrade would leave them back to square one regarding other key positional groups after an encouraging start to their rebuild under Matt Rhule. So they’d have to seriously consider where the line is if the Houston Texans become more willing trade partners in the not-too-distant future.
That line should start with a request to include Brian Burns.
The Panthers struck gold when they took Burns No. 16 overall out of Florida State in 2019. He is the sort of defensive lynchpin that Carolina should be building around, not trying to use as trade bait to get a prominent signal-caller such as Watson.
Houston’s franchise player is special and is coming off a campaign that saw him become the NFL’s passing leader despite a distinct lack of talent around him on both sides of the ball.
If the Panthers want to include Christian McCaffrey, plenty of people could live with that.
But the potential of Burns should make him off-limits.
There has been no indication of just what Carolina is willing to offer if the Texans eventually bow to Watson’s demands. However, compromising the future of the franchise to get their man is something they should think twice about.