4 tag-and trade destinations for Carolina Panthers OLB Brian Burns in 2024
By Dean Jones
Detroit Lions
After spending his professional career languishing as a perennial bottom-feeder, one could forgive Brian Burns for wanting to leave. Especially considering how the Carolina Panthers have completely mismanaged his contract saga after losing all leverage once they turned down a whopping trade offer from the Los Angeles Rams before the 2022 deadline.
This level of incompetence has become synonymous with the Panthers since David Tepper bought the franchise. Matt Rhule, Scott Fitterer, and Samir Suleiman are the primary culprits. Dan Morgan and Brandt Tilis are tasked with trying to clean up an ungodly mess in extremely difficult circumstances.
Burns deserves better. This is also a bad draft not to have a first-round pick. Therefore, the chances of a tag-and-trade situation are relatively high after this recent turn of events.
Looking at their current trajectory and overall culture within the building, the Detroit Lions would be a tremendous landing spot for Burns. Dan Campbell's men came agonizingly close to reaching the promised land for the first time in franchise history before falling agonizingly short in the NFC championship game. It seems like they're going to run it back - especially given offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's surprising decision to spurn head coaching advances - so a few tweaks might get them over the proverbial hump.
Placing Burns opposite former No. 2 pick Aidan Hutchinson would give Detroit one of the league's most explosive young pass-rushing tandems. They aren't going to find a player with his quality at No. 29 overall. The Lions also have $54.29 million in available salary-cap space to take on Burns' franchise tag before working out a long-term deal.