Chinn Makes Case for Rookie of the Year Award: "Just Watch the Film"

It may be hard to believe but there will be many folks tuning into this week's game between the 4-10 Carolina Panthers and the 6-8 Washington Football Team. It doesn't sound like a great matchup, but former Panthers' head coach Ron Rivera gets to coach against his old team and two Defensive Rookie of the Year candidates get to play on the same field - Chase Young and Jeremy Chinn.

Washington defensive end Chase Young is a freak of nature and is already developing into one of the best young pass rushers in all of football. So far this season, he has 38 tackles, 5.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, and eight QB hits. Needless to say, he's going to give the Panthers some issues this Sunday. Many folks around the league believe that Young, the 2nd overall pick from the 2020 draft, is the clear favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Young has been terrific, but not enough people are giving Panthers' safety/linebacker Jeremy Chinn the respect or recognition that he deserves. Playing on a 4-10 small market team may have something to do with it, but that shouldn't take away how well he has played this season. There's also going to be some bias in the voting since Young was selected 2nd overall and Chinn was drafted in the 2nd round. Not a whole lot of people expected Chinn to perform the way he has in year one and many haven't really paid close attention to him because he's not a top-five pick or on a winning club.

Tuesday afternoon, Chinn was able to speak with members of the media to talk about the possibility of winning the award.

"I just got to finish the season strong and play my best football in December and January for the last game. But yeah, it's been my goal to finish the season strong. I'm not satisfied with anything that I've already accomplished."

I love Chinn's determination, but it's pretty hard not being satisfied with 101 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, two defensive touchdowns, five pass breakups, one interception, and four QB hits. The dude is just straight up balling out in every facet of the game. When asked what case he would make for himself to win the DRoY award, Chinn had a pretty simple statement.

"I would just say watch the film. That's my only argument. I'm not going to really sit here and plead for myself on the microphone, I'd rather do that on the field. So, I would just say watch the film."

Chinn and the Panthers will kick things off vs Washington this Sunday at 4:05 p.m. on CBS.

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