Finding Broncos: Scouting South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn
Welcome to Finding Broncos, our annual prospect-by-prospect series deep-diving on the coming NFL draft class. The scouting continues with South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn, a talented prospect who fits a Denver Broncos' roster need.
Measurables
- Height: 6-foot-0
- Weight: 205 pounds
Stats
Sports-Reference.com
Pros
- Has a good football IQ, which likely stems from his father being an NFL receiver.
- Good technique and is very physical throughout the routes, at the catch point, and as a run defender.
- Can work in man or zone coverage, but does his best work playing press at the line of scrimmage.
- While not a great athlete, he is a good enough one for the NFL.
- Competes non-stop and makes presence felt.
- Good growth with ball skills from 2019 to 2020.
- Length is really good and uses it extremely well in press and to challenge the catch point.
Cons
- Shouldn't play in off coverage.
- Stiff and clunky when having to click and close.
- Tackling technique often goes to be physical leaving the technique behind.
- Overall athleticism is limiting as to what types of coverage he can work in.
- Physicality needs to be reigned in as he will get overly grabby and hit for a good number of penalties.
- Overall footwork can be sloppy and his change of direction is concerning.
- When playing off coverage, he can make some bad reads and jump earlier than he should.
Overview
Horn is a very physical press corner, but can be over physical and draw some yellow flags. His athletic limitations are very concerning for the NFL and can really limit him to a specific coverage scheme, especially with his issues in off coverage.
He has the work ethic and the smarts to be a success, but his career trajectory will largely due with what type of scheme he finds himself in, especially earlier on.
Fit with Broncos
Denver is near the lowest rate of press coverage on the boundary and that is what Horn does best. They could make the change a year from now to a more press heavy scheme, but Horn needs that right away to put him down the right path.
Putting him in the wrong type of scheme can really be damaging to his technique. Denver also has enough athletically limited corners. There is a lot to like about Horn as a prospect, but he just doesn’t fit in with the Broncos this year.
Grade: Round 2
Where he goes: Round 1
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