Brian Burns and Derrick Brown will mesh amazingly together

[SOJA]

great post OP !

[Mother Grabber]

4 hours ago, MMA said:

Go check out the other two threads. Covid19 is really giving people a lot of time to sit around and do nothing. This one is actually worth reading. The other two? Jesus Christ

it’s national giant OP day, i guess 

[kungfoodude]

But will he punch the ground, tho?

[jfra78]

7 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

But will he punch the ground, tho?

Hope he learned his lesson

[jfra78]

Great OP, please dont stop because of negative people.  Brown will create oppurtunity for everyone on the Defense.  

[Khaki Lackey]

7 hours ago, beo said:

All of the hype on our defensive line right now is around Derrick Brown and Yetur Gross-Matos. For good reason, as they are our recent draft selections and both have high upsides. Having Brown inside to eat up blocks and free up the rest of our line will be very valuable to that unit. But, there's one player who I don't see being talked about very much. That, is Brian Burns, our 2nd year defensive end who was on pace to potentially win defensive rookie of the year prior to his injury in Week 7. In his first 6 games, Burns recorded a defensive TD, 4.5 sacks in his first 6 games, 3 TFL, and a whopping 11 qb hits. He was an absolute pass rushing monster in his first 6 games, and, while he was weaker in run defense, I would expect him to be much better with Brown eating those blocks. That being said, let's try to analyze what makes him so good. I am new to these writeups, so sorry for any iregularities.

First off, a brief intro. Burns coming out of college notched the most QB pressures of any edge rusher that year in the NCAA recording a whopping 68 pressures.

He was an absolute force in college, and immediately produced in the NFL, winning NFC defensive rookie of the month, and at one point was ranked nearly 12 points higher than the rest of the rookie passrushing class by PFF. Infact, PFF absolutely LOVES Brian Burns, and for good reason based on the contents of this article. Burns isn't just a speedy fast athletic DE who coasts on those attributes. The man himself knows that his physical attributes aren't enough in the  NFL. https://www.pff.com/news/draft-brian-burns-is-so-much-more-than-an-explosive-athletic-freak-hes-a-technician-committed-to-improving

Carolina's first-round draft pick out of Florida State, Burns has tallied 11 tackles and his official NFL stat line shows 2.5 sacks and nine QB pressures, the most among first-year players. He also has blocked two punts.

PFF gave Burns a grade of 78.4 through four weeks, first among the 33 rookies with at least 100 defensive snaps. He ranks second among qualifying first-year players in pass-rush win percentage (17.8%), pass-rush grade (72.4) and pressure percentage (15.8%) according to the PFF statistical models. *via https://www.panthers.com/news/brian-burns-named-pff-defensive-rookie-of-the-month*

Burns also notched 11 QB hits in the first 6 weeks of the season, for context, that was keeping pass with JJ Watt himself, and actually outdid Khalil Mack and Von Miller in that 6 week time-frame. Granted, those three players were getting way more attention than Burns was. Point is, that's a lot of QB hits in a 6 week timeframe, especially for a rookie. Lets take a look at some film.

In the first play against Tampa, notice how.. pitiful the interior push is.  This is why we don't want KK Short taking on double teams, it's also why Derrick Brown will be so valuable to our defense. Anyways, to the topic at hand. Brian Burns just ducks under the tackle (with amazing balance, as Dotson is pushing down on him and he still manages to stay on his feet without hitting the ground) and blazes back to Winston forcing an incompletion. This is why I don't think it'd be optimal for him to put on more weight. Burns has such fast burst for a defensive end that he can simply run around tackles in many cases. Very agile as well. It's a great advantage, and with a little refining of his run defense, he could be solid against the run. 250 isn't too small to play good run defense, if you have good enough technique you can still play well vs the run at that weight. Von Miller is a fine example of this, being one of the best edge rush defenders in the league. Khalil Mack as well played great run defense at about 250 pounds (prior to bulking up). While Burns certainly isn't a Von Miller or Khalil Mack at this point in his career, it shows that technique can make up for a lack of strength  in the run game. He doesn't need to put on weight to become a good run defender, if anything that'd hurt his speed, make him slower and less agile,  and hurt his advantage against tackles on the edge, which is what he does best. The tradeoff isn't worth it, IMHO. In the play against Arizona, Love gets.. decent push, while Obada gets absolutely punked (lol why the hell was he in at DT). Burns again just ducks and uses his inane burst to scream right by the tackle, blowing up the play as soon as it starts. 

That's not all there is to like about Burns though. The kid has one hell of a motor as well.

In this initial play versus the Jaguars, Burns get handled pretty well by their offensive tackle. However, one thing i love about the kid, is the motor. Despite the Olineman having him in a great spot, he never gives up on the play and still manages to shed off the tackle and force the turnover against the Jaguars. He just never quits on a play. In many of these plays it almost reminds me of those old Madden nano blitzes, he just comes screaming off the edge so incredibly fast. Poe isnt able to get Minshew down and misses the sack, despite it Burns doesn't waver at all and just dashes right into Minshew, forcing the fumble. Very high effort. The same thing happens in the next play against the Bucs, gets handled, despite it he just never gives up on the play and manages to notch the coverage sack on Jameis. In the ensuing plays against Arizona, Burns diagnoses the exact dumpoff they wanna run and speeds to Murray before he can get the pass off, forcing an incompletion. The same thing happens in the two Murray scrambles that follow.  Not in a very desirable spot, ends up running down Murray and preventing the gains anyway. For the record, Kyler Murray is the 2nd fastest QB in the NFL. Just.. amazing hustle, something our defense lacked outside of him and Mario. 

Now, I want you to take this into account, and factor in how... lackluster our interior push is on most of these plays. Let's imagine this defensive line for a second. We're going to have Derrick Brown eating up double teams and creating that interior pressure, Short who while he isn't effective against double teams, he is still effective at creating interior pressure and will be able to do so at a much greater clip with Brown taking the pressure of off him and taking on those double teams, and Burns screaming off of the edge like this; where does the QB go? You can't step up because if you do you'll either be stepping up into Brown and the linemen he is pushing back, Short who will be able to create interior pressure much more effectively in 1 on 1s, and if you don't step up, Burns will come flying off the edge and sack you. I fully expect a 10 sack campaign for Brian Burns this year barring injuries (Hell he managed 7.5 last year), even if his run defense still needs some work. I cannot wait to see how Brown and Burns mesh on the field together, and if YGM works out? This defensive line will be scary.

Here's a film breakdown on him that analyzes this better than I can, and is definitely worth watching if you're interested in learning more (in particular, about his struggles against the run.)

 

Nothing to add. Just wanted to quote the “War and Peace” length OP since that’s a thing now.

[trucpfan]

11 hours ago, MMA said:

Third post of the night that is typed out longer than a Harry Potter novel. I blame covid19. People got too much time. 

I think you said in another post about him playing 3-4 and him not fitting a 4-3DE but all these highlights are 4-3 did you notice?

11 hours ago, *FreeFua* said:

I stumbled upon this Burns video earlier today, it’s really good. 
 

It’s a shame that this thread got ruined so quickly. It’s why this place is the way it is. Ain’t worth the time posting anything actually football related. 

Yea poo goes south quick but this was informative, do we have the best D Line in the NFC South? Will we dominate upfront where it matters most? Can DJ be a lockdown corner with the experience and a nasty front giving minimal time to let it fly, it definitely seems so

[MMA]

4 minutes ago, trucpfan said:

I think you said in another post about him playing 3-4 and him not fitting a 4-3DE but all these highlights are 4-3 did you notice?

Yea poo goes south quick but this was informative, do we have the best D Line in the NFC South? Will we dominate upfront where it matters most? Can DJ be a lockdown corner with the experience and a nasty front giving minimal time to let it fly, it definitely seems so

That was Haynes 

[trucpfan]

2 minutes ago, MMA said:

That was Haynes 

My bad my bad I stand corrected.

[yasuhara2241]

1 hour ago, trucpfan said:

I think you said in another post about him playing 3-4 and him not fitting a 4-3DE but all these highlights are 4-3 did you notice?

Yea poo goes south quick but this was informative, do we have the best D Line in the NFC South? Will we dominate upfront where it matters most? Can DJ be a lockdown corner with the experience and a nasty front giving minimal time to let it fly, it definitely seems so

Many posters and twitter GMs have mentioned him not being able to be a 4-3 DE. The fact is that most people don't realize we used a four down lineman front very often with Burns. People remember we drafted him and assumed it would only be as a 3-4 OLB. We didn't use him that way all the time. 

[Woodie]

5 minutes ago, yasuhara2241 said:

Many posters and twitter GMs have mentioned him not being able to be a 4-3 DE. The fact is that most people don't realize we used a four down lineman front very often with Burns. People remember we drafted him and assumed it would only be as a 3-4 OLB. We didn't use him that way all the time. 

Someone here recently posted a very good evaluation video of his rookie season, and I think the guy doing the eval. was spot on.  It's not so much that Burns has to get bigger and stronger (although it wouldn't hurt, and with his frame he probably could add 5-10 pounds of muscle without effecting his bend and burst too much), but that he needs to improve his technique...especially against the run. 

This is where it hurts him to not have a full offseason to work on the nuances of the position.  But I do think once he develops enough technique, he'll become a dominant DE.  

[davos]

11 minutes ago, yasuhara2241 said:

Many posters and twitter GMs have mentioned him not being able to be a 4-3 DE. The fact is that most people don't realize we used a four down lineman front very often with Burns. People remember we drafted him and assumed it would only be as a 3-4 OLB. We didn't use him that way all the time. 

This is very true.

Most of his snaps were in even fronts.  He has some work to do on run-d but holy heck was his effective when he played.

Really great OP. 

[yasuhara2241]

@davos @Woodie

Expectations of rookie players are getting absurd. These guys are playing against grown ass men. It's going to take a while. Even a strong dude like Brown will most likely struggle. 

For rookies,  I just want to see flashes. 

Burns flashed multiple times in limited situations. Guys like Everett Brown never flashed even in limited playing time. 

Give players time to develop,  mature and get stronger especially on defense. 

[TheMaulClaw]

Burns was an absolute stud when he was on the field. There is a reason the team started falling off after he got hurt. A healthy Burns may have been the difference in those close games.  Im really excited about him. I think he has the best burst off the line then any other Dlinemen the Panthers have had.