Jaycee Horn, unfairly so, will always be linked to the move the Carolina Panthers did not make in the 2021 NFL draft—taking either quarterback Justin Fields or Mac Jones. And, unfairly so (again), he didn’t get the chance to prove his team right.
After a stellar two-game start to his rookie campaign, Horn succumbed to a season-ending foot injury sustained in the Panthers’ Week 3 win against the Houston Texans. So, when grading out the first seasons for each of this past draft’s top 10 picks, Falcons Wire managing editor Matt Urben couldn’t go much higher than a ‘C+’ for Horn’s three outings.
“Horn was a part of Carolina’s surprising 3-0 start but a broken foot ended his season early,” Urben writes. “The South Carolina standout recorded five tackles, an interception and allowed just one catch on five targets. The Panthers went on to win just two more games on their way to a 5-12 record (last in the NFC South). Assuming Horn returns healthy, Carolina could use him in the secondary to help complement a talented Panthers front seven.”
The eighth overall pick was, again, highly impressive in his limited burn. With Carolina having run short on nickel defenders early on, Horn stepped up in playing much of the beginning of his pro career from the slot—where he displayed the doggedness, fluidity and overall pedigree the Panthers drafted him for.
But as fellow corners Stephon Gilmore and Donte Jackson are both headed for free agency and with, obviously, no guarantees that either will be back—Horn will certainly get another opportunity to show Carolina made a wise, A+ choice last April.
