Tom Rock: Giants' Brian Burns is the leader of the defense, a role he's more than ready for
Giants' Brian Burns looks on during a game against the San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 2, 2025. Credit: Getty Images/Al Bello
It’s Brian Burns’ defense now. There is no denying it. So he doesn’t even try to.
He’s the most decorated player for the Giants on that side of the ball. Depending on how they deploy Kayvon Thibodeaux, Burns will likely be the longest-tenured starter for the unit this season. And with the departures of Dexter Lawrence and Bobby Okereke this offseason Burns is the only returning captain for the defense.
He seemed shocked by all of that when it was brought to his attention by Newsday on Tuesday night when he was honored as a “Hometown Hero” at the United Way of New York City’s 33rd Annual Gridiron Gala in Manhattan.
“That’s crazy,” he said.
But he also seemed to relish the responsibility.
“I am up for the opportunity,” Burns said. “You say it’s my defense now and that’s how I look at it. It’s a nod to what I have done and the success I have had. But I don’t take that lightly. I am very grateful for the opportunity.”
It was only a few weeks ago that Burns was saying he couldn’t imagine the Giants’ defense without Lawrence. Now he doesn’t have to. He’s living it.
More than that, he’s leading it.
The excitement for the Giants this spring has stemmed from the arrival of coach John Harbaugh and the potential for quarterback Jaxson Dart to make a second-year jump in his development. The soundtrack to this season as far as the defense is concerned, though, will undoubtedly be Brian’s Song.
The fact that so many of his teammates came to the event on Tuesday to support not just the cause but him – a crew that included Dart – illustrates how highly he is esteemed.
It’s been a remarkably quick transformation for Burns to go from the new guy to just the guy. Only two years ago he arrived in a trade with the Panthers. He admitted it took him a little while to get adjusted to life in a very different city and a very different locker room.
Now he is being feted by both. And relied on by both. One for his contributions off the field, the other for on it.
For the Giants that means he is expected to continue playing at the high level that put him in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year last season. He set career highs in sacks (16.5), quarterback hits (31), tackles for loss (22), and forced fumbles (three) while starting all 17 games in 2025. He was a Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro.
But he also will have a hand in grooming two of the young players the Giants are counting on to help the team get back to the postseason. He’s already had a year tutoring Abdul Carter (with mixed results but, hey, don’t blame the teacher for that!) and now he is taking on first-round pick Arvell Reese.
The latter of the two just finished his rookie minicamp this weekend and in recent days has joined the veterans for Phase II of the offseason program.
Said Reese of his goals for that acclimation: “I want to show the team right away that I'm one of those guys that would rather be seen and not heard. Especially as a rookie, that's what you've got to do. You've got to know what you're doing on the field before you say what you're about.”
Burns said he is impressed by Reese so far.
“I really like his mentality and I like what he said in the media and I know it’s not fluff,” Burns said. “That speaks volumes as a rookie. I really appreciate that.”
As for the departure of Lawrence, Burns laughed off all the things he said just prior to the defensive tackle’s trade to the Bengals, things about not wanting to play on a team without Lawrence and the Giants not being the Giants without him.
“I was just going to bat for my teammate,” he said. “I understand the position he was in. I was just in that position.”
He said the veterans on the Panthers did the same for him when he wanted out (and the bigger contract that went along with it).
And yes, of course he is going to play, even without Lawrence.
“We gotta live with it,” he said. “I don’t want to play without him because he is my friend along with a great player, but we got some things out of it (the 10th overall pick used to select offensive lineman Sisi Mauigoa) and we just have to move on.
“I’ve been in this league long enough to understand it’s next man up whenever somebody leaves.”
Good. Because the next man up as the leader of this defense is him.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
