Brian Burns didn’t trudge through five years in Carolina and two more in North Jersey just to watch the New York Giants put him through the wringer again.
The No. 16 overall pick from the 2019 Draft has lived it. Dysfunction, relentless losing, watching good players come and go while the front office plays self-inflicted cleanup duty. And now, with Dexter Lawrence -- Burns’ draft buddy, taken right after him at No. 17 -- sitting in the middle of a contract stalemate that went from bad to worse way too fast, Spida-Burns sounds like someone who’s seen this movie before and knows how it plays out. Because he has.
The soon-to-be 28-year-old made his feelings crystal clear, telling ESPN at his celebrity softball game (before the impasse bombshell) that he wants Big Dex back, while knowing that once the suits get involved, it stops being personal and turns into business:
“Business is business. I’ve been through it. ... How I feel technically is that we just need him in the building, regardless of whatever it is. Figure it out. Get it done. I don’t want to see somebody else in that 97 besides Dex. So that’s just my take on it.”
Brian Burns puts Giants on notice over Dexter Lawrence situation
If Joe Schoen were playing this right, he'd be listening. These comments came before Big Blue and Lawrence's camp failed to resolve the situation. Imagine how he feels after waking up to everything going to hell.
Schoen just went from having 'good conversations' with Dex to staring at an impasse in the blink of an eye, with the 2026 Draft feeling like a natural deadline. When Burns said, “figure it out, get it done,” it sounded like someone ready to throw their arms up and quit because the general manager can't figure out how to keep homegrown talent in Giants blue.
It's an issue that Schoen refuses to master. It's either that, or he takes joy in letting his best players leave and enjoy success elsewhere. Imagine the lack of confidence and frustration coming out of that locker room if Dexter freaking Lawrence gets dealt because the G-Men couldn’t finagle the numbers to make the money work to keep him.
Schoen's taken the immovable object approach before -- just look at Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney, and Julian Love, so maybe it's time for another approach. When the second-best defensive player is telling the front office to keep its best one in New York, maybe it’s time to listen.
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