Brian Burns of Panthers one of NFL’s best pass rushers. His dancing makes it possible
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Brian Burns didn’t hesitate.
When the Carolina Panthers defensive lineman was asked which singer was the best dancer between Usher, Ciara, Beyonce, Omarion and Chris Brown, he answered it quickly.
“Oh, that’s easy. C-Breezy,” Burns said, referencing Chris Brown’s nickname. When Burns was 8, he’d watch Brown’s dance videos and imitate them. That’s when his mother, Angela Burns, said she first noticed her son had rhythm.
You see, when he was younger, he was just jumping up and down, she said. Finally, he started moving to the beat of songs.
Burns’ love for dancing continues to today. That’s one of the things he’s known for off the field. But on it, he’s become one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen. And he attributes his ability to dance to why his pass-rushing skills look so fluid.
Whether it’s his spin move or his ghost move, Burns has made it a habit of making opposing offensive linemen look silly.
Take for instance in the second quarter of the Panthers’ Week 7 game against the New Orleans Saints. Burns was lined up opposite of offensive tackle James Hurst. As soon as the center snapped the ball, Burns shot off the edge like a rocket. Hurst extended his arms and Burns dipped under them, performing what he calls his “ghost move.”
As Hurst stumbled, the only person standing in front of Burns was Drew Brees. Burns sacked Brees and stripped the ball out, and forced a turnover.
“He’s so shifty,” Panthers center Matt Paradis said. “When people can move their shoulders like that, but their lower body is still churning, it’s very hard to block that properly as an O-Lineman. ... It’s very rare that people can maintain that full speed while the rest of their body can be in all these contortions, and then they can plant on a dime and spin. It’s just very rare, and he’s very good at that.”
That’s the South Florida in Burns. He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with a family of dancers. For fun and on holidays, the Burns family likes to get together and go line dancing.
“The way we dance in South Florida, it’s a lot of bending, it’s a lot of flexibility in it, if that makes sense,” Burns said. “You’ve got to have good knees to dance in South Florida, for real.”
Good knees and good dance moves are part of the reason Burns has been so successful this season. The Panthers play the Broncos on Sunday, and quarterback Drew Lock said Burns is someone they have to account for.
“He’s extremely fast, he gets around the edge quick, he’s super athletic,” Lock said. “I know him from just draft classes and recruiting classes in college, so I know he’s a problem on the field, and we’ll have to keep an eye on him throughout the game. That’s for sure.”
Burns, 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, leads the Panthers with six sacks this season and three forced fumbles. He also has 46 tackles, five tackles for loss and 17 quarterback hits.
According to Pro Football Focus, Burns has the fifth-highest pass-rush grade in the NFL among edge rushers. He’s the Panthers’ best defensive player, and he’s arguably been their best player this season on either side of the ball.
And he’s only in his second year in the NFL.
“He’s our lead dog,” Panthers safety Tre Boston said of Burns. “It’s Year 2 and he’s our lead dog. For him to take that and shoulder that, and come out here and play well, game in and game out knowing that we need him Year 2, it’s special. He’s going to be special.
“This is Year 2. I have to remind people this is Year 2.”
A dancer
When asked who is the best dancer in the family, Stanley McClover, Brian Burns’ older brother, relents.
“Man, I’ve got to be real with you, bro. Brian is, hands down, the best,” he said. “I consider myself a guy who can cut the rug a little bit, but he’s like Chris Brown. I’m more like Usher. He’s a bad boy.”
Burns often posts dance videos on his Instagram account. On Halloween, he dressed as the movie character Major Payne, played by actor Damon Wayans. Burns acted out one of the film’s scenes where Payne is dancing at a dance club with a woman he is trying to impress. Burns imitated the exact dance moves and posted the video side-by-side with the movie scene. The moves were identical.
“He picked that up in 20-30 minutes just watching the TV screen,” McClover said.
Angela Burns said her family loves to dance and her youngest son, whom she calls BJ (Brian Jr.), first learned how to dance from his mother. They dance outside, in the house and at parties, she said. But when they go line dancing, BJ always has to do something different and “stand out from everybody else,” she said.
She recalls attending her mother’s retirement party a few years ago with family and friends. At one point during the party, Burns, 17 at the time, got up on a stage, took his shirt off, and started dancing to the music.
“We got video and everything,” she said with a laugh. “He took his shirt off and made $300 or $400. He stole the show. I mean, he didn’t take his pants off now. But he took his shirt off, and his little bird chest came out and he made money.”
While he dances for fun, Burns is the first to say that knowing how to dance has helped with his footwork in football and being flexible.
“It correlates with football with coordination,” Burns said. “If you set up a three-step move, or five-step move, you’ve got to be able to flow with it.”
Help from big brother
Before Burns became the player he is, he worked out with his brother, McClover, who is 13 years older and was drafted in the seventh round by the Panthers in 2006.
He was also a defensive lineman and played with Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker. But a devastating knee injury ended his career prematurely after three NFL seasons.
He returned home to Fort Lauderdale without much money and his dreams broken. So he did all he could to help his brother.
When Burns was in 10th grade, he told McClover that he wanted to take football seriously and asked his brother to train him. McClover agreed.
Every weekend, he’d take him to the park. They couldn’t afford bags, so Burns and McClover worked on his spin moves and technique on trees. They’d work out for hours trying to perfect his craft.
As Burns grew, McClover started to see his brother’s potential. Brian had trouble catching quarterbacks, who’d run away from him. So one day after a game, McClover told him that he couldn’t keep chasing the quarterbacks.
“You’ve got to leave your feet,” he said.
In the next game, one of the quarterbacks scrambled out of the pocket and tried to run from Burns. And instead of chasing him, Burns dove.
“It was like a superman dive, I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Burns clipped the quarterback’s feet and he fumbled.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’ and he ran to the sideline and was like, ‘Bro! I did it. I said, ‘You damn sure did.’ Ever since then, it’s been automatic,” McClover said.
A big pro day
Panthers general manager Marty Hurney will never forget Burns’ pro day performance at Florida State. Hurney had flown from Phoenix to Tallahassee to be there.
When he got to Florida State’s field house, there were a lot of people there, including fans and family members. Most were there for Burns and he said it was one of the best pro day performances he has ever witnessed.
On one drill, Hurney remembers Burns lining up. There were four pop bags in front of him. Burns was supposed to weave through them, and on the last bag, perform a dip move before attacking the quarterback.
“At one point he went through the bags and planted and took a hard right to the imaginary quarterback, and it seemed like the entire crowd let out a collective ‘Ahhh,’ ” Hurney said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been in a workout where I heard that kind of spontaneous reaction from that many people.”
McClover also remembers that moment. He said he was looking at Hurney to see if he was impressed. He recalls Hurney dropping his head after that drill. He figured that meant Hurney, his former general manager, liked what he saw.
When Hurney left that pro day, he had Burns on his short list of potential players to draft. He just wasn’t sure whether Burns would be available at No. 16. He was.
“We are sure glad we got him,” Hurney said.
‘Strive for perfection’
Burns is always searching. Watching. Watching for new moves to try and work on. Whether it’s at home in the kitchen or at practice, Burns is always working on something new. He watches Von Miller and T.J. Watt — speed rushers who have had success in the league.
He said earlier this season while doing film study, he saw Atlanta Falcons defensive end Donte Fowler go from a ghost move to a spin move and pick up a sack.
Since Week 3, he has been trying to perfect that move. He says he has it down now, and he could use it if he wanted to.
“It depends what I get, what kind of set I get,” Burns said referring to how an offensive lineman would approach him. “It’s waiting to come out.”
After a solid rookie season last year where he finished with 7.5 sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, Burns knew he could do more. He put in the work in the offseason, and in a limited training camp had some success against Panthers tackles Russell Okung and Taylor Moton.
That only boosted his confidence heading into the season.
At 22, Burns is one of the youngest players on the Panthers — younger than some rookies. When he speaks, he sounds like a veteran.
Panthers defensive coordinator Phil Snow said he sees Burns coming into his own as a player. He think he can continue to improve. Snow said his goal for Burns is to have at least 10 sacks per year. “And there’s no reason why he can’t,” Snow said.
Burns wants more.
He wants to average 12 to 15 sacks per season.
He also wants to get his first NFL interception. He said he almost had one against the Lions in Week 11. It was a missed opportunity he still thinks about. And he wants to average between 55 to 60 tackles per year.
“Strive for perfection, and you’ll reach greatness,” is his motto.
“I’m trying to get my name out there, make a name for myself now,” Burns said. “I don’t want to wait for Year 5. I’m capable of doing it right now.”
Burns will keep spinning, ducking under offensive linemen and using his footwork to get to the quarterback. That’s the dancer in him.
This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Brian Burns of Panthers one of NFL’s best pass rushers. His dancing makes it possible."
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