You didn’t hear the name of Carolina Panthers rookie Jaycee Horn much, if at all, during Sunday’s broadcast. And it’s okay.
That’s because cornerback play can be a fickle craft to evaluate. Sometimes you get a Josh Norman, where the boisterous personality and splashy playmaking demand the viewer’s attention on a perpetual basis. Then sometimes you get a James Bradberry, a lower-key type of makeup whose omission from the spotlight can be attributed to the silent product of his performance.
In his first professional outing, Horn was the latter of the two.
2021’s eighth overall pick was largely quiet throughout his NFL debut against the New York Jets in Week 1. Quiet, again, in a good way.
According to Pro Football Focus, the 21-year-old was targeted only four times in a game where fellow rookie Zach Wilson unleashed 37 passes. That, at the very least, is a nod to the respect that the Jets already have for the kid.
Just two of those tries resulted in completions, going for a combined 18 yards and a touchdown. Oh wait . . .
What? A touchdown, you say? Oof.
Well, yeah. Allowing your man to hit pay dirt is never positive. Obviously. But even a layman’s look at the play will tell you Horn, even in his lowest moment of the afternoon, was still pretty damn sharp.
Alpha vs. Alpha.
Jaycee Horn v. Corey Davis.
Incredible throw by Zach Wilson, and Horn was just soclose to tipping this.#NYJvsCAR pic.twitter.com/aZq5xxK2m0
— Edgar Salmingo, Jr.
(@PanthersAnalyst) September 12, 2021
Considering Horn was a nano of a nanometer away from breaking up the pass to wideout Corey Davis, who is one heck of a player in his own right, how can you fault him at all? He locked into Wilson, kept up smooth footwork on the backpedal, broke in nicely and just missed on the extension.
Don’t let the length of a blade of grass (or a turf pellet with the new field at Bank of America Stadium) ruin your outlook.
Horn, also according to PFF, did miss a pair of tackles on the day, leading to a low 27.6 tackling grade from the film buffs. He did, however, exhibit his willingness to get down and dirty on the run, especially here:
Jaycee Horn with downhill snuff of the Jets run play. Jermaine Carter cleans it up. So nice. pic.twitter.com/fGEZGkqJhD
— Edgar Salmingo, Jr.
As part of the unit’s initial stand, Horn identifies the toss, picks up steam downhill, powers by the lead blocker Trevon Wesco and wrecks the play for the cleanup by linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. This accounted for one of his two stops (a tackle that constitutes a “failure” for the offense) on Sunday.
Overall, the Panthers got a fine first week’s return on their investment. Horn denied targets that could’ve been aimed his way, was not treated like a rookie that needed to be abused by the opposition and was a key cog in a coverage that helped give way to a whopping six sacks by the Carolina defense.
So just because your shiny new toy didn’t force a fumble, didn’t get an interception, didn’t start a scuffle and didn’t ride an imaginary horse in the back of the end zone, that doesn’t mean he’s already broken. In this case, it means he’s just a real G that moved in silence.
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