Change can be a scary prospect for many people, but not for Carolina Panthers safety (or is it linebacker now?) Jeremy Chinn.
The soon-to-be fourth-year defender recently joined NFL Now and host Andrew Siciliano to catch up on what’s been a busy offseason for his team. Among the many moves that’ve been made include, obviously, a change at defensive coordinator—where Ejiro Evero is set to implement a switch to a 3-4 base.
So, when asked what that means for him, Chinn confirmed what most believed would be his role for the unit.
“This system, I’ll be able to be closer to the line of scrimmage again, kinda how I was in previous years,” he said.
But, uh, is he happy about it?
“Yeah, I’m super excited about it,” Chinn told Siciliano. “I’ll be able to be around the ball more. So, that’s really exciting. Talking to Evero and Coach [Jonathan] Cooley, we have plans and I’m excited kinda for what they have me doing a little bit.”
Chinn, at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, has been utilized as a Swiss Army knife before—having lined up from all over the field during his three-year pro tenure. His best campaign, however, came when he was closer to the line of scrimmage in 2021—where he was stationed in the box a career-high 510 times and off the edge (in another career-high) 119 times.
This past year saw Chinn deployed more into the secondary. 2022 was the only season in which he tallied more looks from the free safety and slot spots than he did from the front seven.
But, as Evero stated in his introductory press conference back on Feb. 22, his goal is to make the system fit the players. And as far as Chinn is concerned, he’ll be fitting right in right away.