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NY Post
New York Post
29 May 2024


NextImg:Giants’ Brians Burns plans to pay it forward with Kayvon Thibodeaux mentorship

They all need someone to help show them the way.

Brian Burns broke into the NFL in 2019 with the Panthers, a lousy team with plenty of experienced defensive linemen. Available to Burns for brain-picking were Gerald McCoy, Dontari Poe, Mario Addison and Bruce Irvin.

“A lot of vets to learn from,’’ Burns said.

The next season, those vets were gone and Burns, in his second NFL season, at 22 years of age, in some ways had to go it alone.

“I was kind of the leader of the group,’’ he said.

New Giants pass rusher Brian Burns hopes to be a leader to Kayvon Thibodeaux. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

In 2021, Burns was provided with a teammate that helped him in his quest to become a feared edge rusher.

Haason Reddick arrived, after four years with the Cardinals, and, at 27, was exactly what Burns needed.

“That’s when I developed that competitive nature with the other end on the other side,’’ Burns said. “I was able to learn a lot from him.’’

What goes around comes around. Burns, now 26, is in his first offseason with the Giants and he is paired with Kayvon Thibodeaux, the 23-year-old outside linebacker selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 draft.

“It’s a similar situation going into my sixth year, he’s going into his third year,’’ Burns said. “That’s the same as me and Hasson. That definitely did wonders for my career.’’

Perhaps Burns coming to the Giants, via a mega-trade with the Panthers, will help ignite Thibodeaux’ ascendancy into the ranks of the league’s top pass rushers.

Thibodeaux has done fine for himself, despite not having a dependable, quality rusher on the other side of the line, improving on his four-sack rookie year with a team high 11.5 sacks in 2023.

Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Thibodeaux has never lined up with a bona fide threat on the other side of the line — Dexter Lawrence is a force on the interior of the defensive line — and never been able to share thoughts in the Giants locker room on pass-rush moves and setups with an accomplished sack-master teammate.

Burns, with 46 sacks in five NFL seasons, qualifies, although he has also often been forced to go it alone, toiling for a Panthers organization that won 24 games and lost 59 in his five years in Charlotte.

“Yeah, the competitive spirit,’’ Thibodeaux said. “We’re chasing greatness every day. He knows a lot of things. He’s been in the league a lot longer than I have. He’s got a lot of game, a lot of gems that’s going to help my game. Continue to get with him on and off the field and continue to grow.’’

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The early stages of their budding relationship focused more on personalities and shared interests and less on football techniques. There is plenty of time for on-field tutorials. Getting to know each other as people comes first.

The two crossed paths several years ago, when Thibodeaux went on a recruiting visit to Florida State and Burns served as the host for the trip.

Thibodeaux said he always compared himself with Burns and called it a “full-circle moment’’ to be with him now on a full-time basis.

Giants pass rusher Brian Burns Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

“He’s a Florida boy,’’ Thibodeaux said. “You talk about a little bit of city, a little bit of country. I’m from West Coast, from LA. You talk about the mix of the outdoors and the indoors, the big city and the wide-open country. It’s a good mix. We’ve been able to get together, show him some things, he’s shown me some things. Talk about culturally, music-wise. It’s been a good time so far.’’

Burns recalls his one year with Reddick as beneficial, picking up “small things you don’t really think about, things only a vet can tell you.’’

The plan for Burns is to get together soon with Reddick to work out. That Reddick is now with the Jets makes this a geographically convenient maneuver to pull off.

Burns wants to hear how Reddick was able to go from 11 sacks with the Panthers in 2021 to 16 sacks with the Eagles the following season.

Burns also wants to ask how he helped Reddick in their time together.

The assignment right now is to work with Thibodeaux.

“Right now, we’re just pretty much getting used to each other, bouncing a lot of ideas off of each other,’’ Burns said. “We just spend a lot of time trying to develop that chemistry. Also, healthy competition. We almost compete in everything we do, on the field, off the field. Having somebody to push me and I’m able to push, that’s going to be a positive this year.’

That is the plan — to show that two are better than one.