The Carolina Panthers were among the most notable sellers in the NFL leading up to the trade deadline, parting ways with star running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Robbie Anderson. But the biggest star who wasn’t traded – linebacker Brian Burns – had some thoughts on the team’s decision to keep him.
Speaking to the Panthers’ official website on Thursday, Burns admitted that he didn’t want to be traded. He said he wanted to stay, be with his teammates and keep living in Charlotte, North Carolina. Burns said it would’ve broken his heart to leave.
“I wasn’t too much looking for [a trade],” Burns said. “I wasn’t looking for it at all. You feel me? I want to stay, so I wasn’t looking for it.
“I want to stay with my guys; I love Charlotte. It would break my heart to leave my defense. We’ve been so close, and I feel like we’ve got something special on defense for sure.”
The Panthers reportedly turned down a substantial offer to part ways with Burns, but the team chose to keep him. Burns took it as a sign that the team believes that he and the other players who weren’t traded are the “core for the future.”
“I think it says that they see a lot of, I would say, potential, but we’ve also done a lot of things together, and this is a strong core,” Burns said. “And they believe in this core for the future. So I would say they believe in us and want to keep us together because we can do some great things together.”
Believe it or not, the Panthers still have a slight chance of making something happen this season. Even at 2-6 they’re still only two games out of first place with nine games left to play.
A win over Atlanta next Thursday and a run against an easier stretch of their schedule late in the season along with one or two upsets along the way… crazier things have happened.