The only reason that the Rams have Jared Verse is that the Carolina Panthers didn’t want them to have Brian Burns. Not even for the two first round picks that L.A. offered, according to SI’s Albert Breer way back in 2022, which included the 2024 pick that the Rams used to select Verse. The other pick would have been the one that the Rams used to trade the Falcons for their second round pick this year and first round pick next year.
Thanks, Panthers!
The Panthers would later fire Scott Fitterer, the general manager who turned down L.A.’s offer and then later traded up for Bryce Young at the top of the 2023 draft. After rejecting trades for Burns for multiple years, Fitterer was fired two months prior to Carolina sending him to the New York Giants for merely a second round pick and a fifth round pick.
Ironically, the Panthers traded that pick to the Rams when they wanted to move up for Braden Fiske in the second round last year. Carolina was able to flip that second rounder into an additional second round pick in 2025, which they used to trade up for edge rusher Nic Scourton in 2025.
So in a way, the Panthers ended up trading Burns for running back Jonathon Brooks (their eventual second round pick in 2024) and Scourton.
Scourton has 3 sacks in 12 games this season. Brooks has appeared in 3 career games and is recovering from a torn ACL.
Had the Rams successfully traded two first rounders for Burns, they might have Burns (they would have had to paid him a lucrative extension) but they wouldn’t have Verse or Terrance Ferguson or Atlanta’s first round pick in 2026. Instead they have those players, that pick, and a lot of cap space.
Not to mention a really good chance of beating the Panthers on Sunday.
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