Panthers CB Jaycee Horn: No. 6 Player Must Live Up to Contract

Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn is a back-to-back Pro Bowler. To say that a player like that hasn't lived up to the billing seems silly, but Horn is on a $100 million contract extension. Pro Bowls are nice, but All-Pros are better.

By some metrics, Mike Jackson has actually outperformed Horn the last couple of seasons, but it's Horn that determines how good this secondary can be. If he can be a true lockdown corner and shut down a side of the field, this defense becomes a whole lot scarier.

We ranked Horn number six on our list of the most important Panthers this year. Having a lockdown cornerback, which Horn has been and can absolutely be, is so important.

The Panthers need Jaycee Horn to be a $100M man

Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn (8) catches an interception against the San Francisco 49ers | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Jaycee Horn's job should be easier this year. He won't have to cover as long with Jaelan Phillips helping to improve the pass rush. Last year and the year before, with literally no pass rush to speak of, Horn was often left on an island.

Perhaps it's unfair to ask this, but the Panthers need Horn to make his own version of Revis Island, the moniker for when Darrelle Revis would cover a receiver and they'd be marooned on an island with no hope of getting the ball.

Horn doesn't travel with the best receiver, which may or may not be a negative of this defensive scheme. Regardless, it's the fact, so Horn can't shut down Drake London or Emeka Egbuka at all times. But he can take away a side of the field.

If he can do that, this Panthers defense will be ridiculously scary. Because on the other side is another star cornerback in Mike Jackson. And in the middle is Devin Lloyd, with surprisingly decent slot coverage likely coming from Corey Thornton.

That will be hard for a quarterback to get through, and with the pass rush finally (supposedly) being decent, opposing quarterbacks can't just sit back and wait for the zone to break or for the receiver to find space. Everything will be sped up.

Horn must take advantage of that and do one of two things. He either needs to shut down his side of the field or use his incredible ball skills to create turnovers. Turnovers are unsustainable, but they're undeniably the best thing a defense can do. How well the Panthers do in that category will likely come down to Horn's performance.

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