Panthers pass rusher Brian Burns is heading into the fifth and final season of his contract, and he may be getting impatient for a new deal.
Burns missed practice today for reasons that head coach Frank Reich declined to explain.
“It was a personal matter,” Reich said.
Asked later if Burns’ absence was about his contract, Reich would neither confirm nor deny it.
“I’ll just refer that to Brian,” Reich said. “It’s impossible for me to have more respect than I do for Brian. It’s his personal matter. And secondly, as a matter of policy, it’s not my role to talk about contracts, even if that’s what it was.”
The Panthers see the 25-year-old Burns as a major part of their future, and they surely hope to get him signed soon. But Burns may want it done even sooner, and he may have sent a message about that today.