Luke Combs has taken aim at the Carolina Panthers on social media after the team traded defensive end Brian Burns to the New York Giants, as he’s provided insight into what its like being a fan of the team with the worst record in the NFL last season.
The four-time Grammy-nominated, country music star took to X (Twitter) to question the Panthers letting go of one of their standout linebackers last season, despite the team adding guard Robert Hunt to its O-line on a five-year, $100million deal, earlier on Monday.
Combs tweeted: ‘@Panthers ? No first round pick for [Christian] McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just bombing the whole team here or what?
The ‘Beautiful Crazy’ hitmaker was referring to McCaffrey’s trade to the 49ers in October 2022 in his tweet. San Francisco sent a second, third, and fourth-round pick in last year’s NFL Draft, and a fifth-round pick in the upcoming one to acquire the highly-rated running back’s services. McCaffrey was drafted by the Panthers when he came into the league in 2017.
Burns, who was also drafted by Carolina in the 2019 NFL Draft, is getting a five-year contract worth up to $150 million with $87.5 million in guarantees with the Giants, according to reports, despite the deal not being able to be completed until free agency starts on Wednesday.
The Panthers will receive a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder in the trade with New York.
Burns, a two-time Pro Bowl pick, will sign his franchise tag to facilitate the deal. Burns becomes the second-highest paid defensive end in NFL history.
The Giants had only 34 sacks last season.
The Giants landed a marquee defensive player on a day they lost star running back Saquon Barkley to the Eagles. The Giants quickly replaced Barkley by agreeing to terms with Devin Singletary.
Burns, who turns 26 next month, had 46 sacks in five seasons in Carolina. Only recent Hall of Fame selection Julius Peppers had more sacks in his first five seasons with the Panthers. Burns had 50 tackles and eight sacks in 2023 after moving from defensive end to outside linebacker with the Panthers moving to a 3-4 scheme.
The compensation for Burns is much less than what the Panthers would have received had they traded him last summer when the Los Angeles Rams offered two first- round picks for the 2019 first-round draft pick.
Last year’s general manager Scott Fitterer has since been fired.
The decision to move on from Burns will save the Panthers $24M under the salary cap this season – the money he would have been paid as their franchise tag player. The Panthers had tried to work out a long-term deal with Burns last year and most recently at the NFL combine, but failed to come to terms on an agreement.
