Jaycee Horn: Scouting report for Carolina Panthers’ first-round pick
With the eighth overall pick the Carolina Panthers selected South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn.
Some teams have Horn as the No. 1 corner on their boards, but it still came as a bit of a surprise that he went this high. It was also a bit disappointing Carolina did not take a left tackle here with Rashawn Slater still on the board, but nonetheless this pick filled a huge position of need with an outstanding player. Let’s take a deeper look at what Horn brings to the table.
Horn is a tough, lanky, physical, and athletically gifted DB. He is tremendous in press coverage, an alpha at the catch point and excellent in man-to-man. Speed is not his strong suit on film, but Horn ran a 4.39 second forty at his pro day showing up all his doubters. He has shown on film that he can shut down physical wide receivers, such as Auburn’s Seth Williams. Horn also displays great play strength in his tackling ability and with his hands at the catch point. He is the definition of a physical, ball-hawking, outside corner that will pair tremendously with speedster Donte Jackson.
One of Horn’s few concerns is that, because of his physical play style, he gets a bit grabby with his hands and occasionally draws pass interference flags because of it. He should be able to fix those bad habits with the right coaching in Carolina but it is a tad concerning.
However, Horn will make an immediate impact with the Panthers and be an outstanding running mate to Donte Jackson. He will be able to take over the CB1 role and take tons of pressure off Jackson. Since Horn is the bigger and more physical corner, he will be able to shadow larger receivers such as Mike Evans and Julio Jones. This will take a massive burden off Jackson who, at 5-foot-10 180 lbs, has not performed well against larger receivers.
This pick could finally solve Carolina’s search for a lockdown corner and allow Donte Jackson to finally take that leap to the next level and find some consistency. This pick fills a massive hole while getting one of the best player’s available. Look for Horn to shine in Charlotte.
