The New York Giants are looking to establish a powerful pass-rushing tandem with Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. After acquiring Burns from the Carolina Panthers last season, where they gave away a second-round pick in 2024 and a fifth-round pick in 2025, they drafted Carter with the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. To ensure both players signed, the Giants reworked Burns’ five-year, $141 million contract, shifting $16 million of his base salary into a signing bonus, which freed up $12 million in cap space. Consequently, Carter was able to finalize his four-year, fully guaranteed $45,255,180 rookie contract.

In his first campaign with the Giants, Burns achieved a personal best with 71 combined tackles, 8.5 sacks, eight defended passes, and forced two fumbles. He is among just eight players since 1982 to record at least 7.5 sacks in every first six NFL seasons, boasting 54.5 career sacks—positioning him eighth in the NFL since 2019, after being selected 16th overall by Carolina.

Carter, noted as the highest pick for a pass rusher by the Giants since selecting the iconic Lawrence Taylor as the second overall pick in 1981, led college football with 24 tackles for loss and accumulated 66 pressures last season as a unanimous All-American.

The reunion of the ‘Big Blue Wrecking Crew’ is promising, with Burns and Carter anticipated to act as the principal outside rushers, supplemented by Lawrence, who has recorded 164 pressures since 2022, and Thibodeaux, who has notched 21 sacks in his first three seasons.