Carolina Panthers place franchise tag on Brian Burns

Former American Heritage Plantation (Florida) linebacker Brian Burns, who has recorded 46 sacks over his first five years in the NFL, was unable to reach an agreement on a long term deal with the Carolina Panthers prior to Tuesday's deadline for potential NFL free agents and the Panthers protected their rights to Burns by placing the league's Exclusive Franchise Tag on the one-time South Florida high school football star.

During his final two high school seasons Burns recorded 135 tackles and 28 sacks while leading American Heritage to back-to-back state titles.

Burns played his college football at Florida State and led all freshman in the nation with 8.5 sacks. He had another 4.5 sacks as a sophomore and then upped the total to 10 as a junior. Burns then opted to forgo his senior season at FSU and became a first round pick of the Panthers in 2019 NFL Draft.

The Panthers and Burns can continue to negotiate a potential long term deal until July 17th. An NFL player can be franchised up to three times, but the price of the tag goes up each time.