Panthers Select Cowboys Target Jaycee Horn With No. 8 Pick In NFL Draft
After a long offseason of speculation, the Dallas Cowboys 2021 NFL Draft decision became a little bit more clear Thursday night when the Carolina Panthers selected South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn with the No. 8 overall pick.
Carolina now adds Horn to a struggling secondary, that was in desperate need of cornerback help heading into the draft.
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Horn started 29 of 30 career games played for the Gamecocks over the last three seasons, seeing action both inside and outside, and was selected as an SEC All-Freshman selection during the 2018 season. Horn opted out of the 2020 season after the seventh game.
Playing his high school ball at Alpharetta High School in Alpharetta, Georgia, Horn Chose South Carolina over offers from Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn, among others.
You can view NFLDraftBible.com's scouting report of Horn below:
The son of former NFL wide receiver Joe Horn, Jaycee Horn has the athletic skill set to create his own legacy on the defensive side of the ball. During his Gamecocks career, Horn has had a variety of reps both inside at nickel and on the outside. With superb size and plus athleticism, Horn has the physical profile to match up against a variety of sizes and play styles.
He is incredibly physical at the line of scrimmage, showing a nice combination of hand strength and lateral mobility, profiling as the premier press-man cornerback in the entire 2021 class. In the run game, he flashes plus ability at the cornerback position. Horn is the type of player who can follow the opposing team’s top wide receiver all over the field, whether that be inside or outside.
His hips are loose enough to transition both vertically or coming downhill. The box score will paint one picture about Horn, but his ball skills are a lot better than what the stat sheet might let on, outside of the 2020 outing against the University of Auburn. He easily flips his hips, turns and makes plays on the ball.
Teams just appear a bit hesitant to challenge him in the passing game, rarely being tested down the field. Ball production is going to be the area that Horn will need to answer the question marks, something that he quieted some in his limited sample size during the 2020 season.
Currently, there is some wasted movement out of his back-pedal, showing false steps and slow transitions at times. Horn has the type of athletic profile and pedigree to hear his name in the first round.
With his combination of size, physicality, smoothness and alignment versatility, Horn is the type of versatile playmaker that teams value big-time on the back end.
With Horn now off of the board, Dallas will likely move their attention to Patrick Surtain with to the No. 10 pick, or perhaps to Northwestern tackle Rashawn Slater, with whom they could help add some help on the offensive side of the ball.
