Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina

I’m not going to lie: when I got to my pick I was a little dismayed that I didn’t have the opportunity to draft one of the top 3 WRs. Ja’Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle all could be great assets to our offense and help show if Jalen Hurts is truly the man to lead us into the future. Jaycee Horn is a perfectly good consolation prize, though.

Let’s start out with what stands out to me the most: this man plays the CB position like a linebacker. You will not see many more DBs who are more aggressive, physical, competitive, and willing to tackle. Horn is the kind of defender who will get in your head and hit you hard. His physicality, size, and length makes it extremely hard for receivers to create separation off the line and he’s excellent in the press.

And that excellence in the press is one of the reasons we should covet him. With a new defensive coordinator comes new defensive philosophy. While we don’t know for sure what the scheme Jonathan Gannon will run will be, all indications say it will be a Cover-2 pressing scheme. Had we kept Schwartz as DC with his off-coverage single high scheme I could definitely see where Horn wouldn’t fit. It covers up all of Horn’s strengths and accentuates his weaknesses. But in a two high scheme where the CBs need to be physical and pressing to redirect receivers off their routes, Horn fits this to a tee.

A lot has been made about the fact that he is the son of four-time Pro Bowl WR Joe Horn, and the NFL pedigree definitely helps. And despite the fact that the younger Horn plays on the defensive side of the ball, it does seem like he’s inherited some of his old man’s ball skills. It has been a work in progress for him in this area (his first INT came this year) but he has come leaps and bounds in terms of his ball skills this season. He knows how to track a ball in the air, understands routes to stay with the receiver, and knows how to attack the ball at the high point to break up the pass or pick it off. He plays with good instincts and plays proactively to dictate the route before the WR has the chance to gain an advantage on him.

Horn is also an elite athlete. In fact, he scored a perfect 10 in the Relative Athletic Score, which placed him with the best score of all CBs in the past 35 years. One of the main knocks on him was that he wasn’t the fastest or most quick-twitchy athlete, but his Pro Day put an end to those thoughts. He ran a 4.39 40-yard dash and a 41.5 inch vertical.

I will admit Horn isn’t the perfect prospect. As I said, he is very aggressive and as a result that can cause him to pick up some needless penalties at times. If he’s not able to get the upper hand on a route first, he can guess too much at mirroring the receiver which can cause some blown coverage. While he’s a willing tackler, he’s not necessarily the most sound tackler. He’s good at run blocking but there are some instances where he can let others do his dirty work. Off man coverage is the worst scheme you could possibly run him in. He can tend to turn his hips too quickly if he doesn’t reroute the WR well enough.

That being said, a lot of the gripes that I see with Horn are either the result of him not being a good scheme fit (which is perfectly fine) or things that can be coached out of him. Gannon is supposed to be a DB savant which means if he’s as good of a coach as we have been promised I have all the faith in the world that he will be able to get the best out of Horn.

The term “shutdown corner” is overused in today’s league but if there is one prospect in this year’s draft that has the potential to be just that it’s Horn. Every year he has been in college he has improved by leaps and bounds. I can’t remember the last time we had 2 legitimately good outside CBs, and if you told me it wasn’t since the Andy Reid glory years of the mid ‘00s I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. Horn and Darius Slay gives us that. He’s a scheme fit with an incredibly high ceiling who will only continue to improve.

2021 BGN Mock Draft Order

1) Jaguars (Phoenix X Minimus): QB Trevor Lawrence
2) Jets (eagles.north.of.the.border): QB Zach Wilson
3) 49ers (I Need a Username): QB Trey Lance
4) Falcons (chewy wellington): OT Penei Sewell
5) Bengals (Dr_Horrible): WR Ja’Marr Chase
6) Dolphins (20Safety_Hazard): TE Kyle Pitts
7) Lions (drc242): WR DeVonta Smith
8) Panthers (wildcatlh): QB Justin Fields
9) Broncos (ItownBallers22): CB Patrick Surtain II
10) Cowboys (Kephas): OT Rashawn Slater
11) Giants (Billmington): WR Jaylen Waddle
12) Eagles (ablesser88): CB Jaycee Horn
13) Chargers (Georgia_eagle):
14) Vikings (Philliesandthebees):
15) Patriots (SakPrescott):
16) Cardinals (Carson Wentzs ACL):
17) Raiders (dshelton5):
18) Dolphins (J. Wil):
19) Football Team (Negadelphia Norm):
20) Bears (Happy24):
21) Colts (Fly Like An Eagle):
22) Titans (Friendly Neighborhood Philly Fan):
23) Jets (Asap Stocky):
24) Steelers (Gregnado):
25) Jaguars (“Snax”):
26) Browns (gerouxman1956):
27) Ravens (Brendanekstrom):
28) Saints (grantspectations):
29) Packers (Philly_Philly):
30) Bills (doublefry):
31) Chiefs (Leo Bedio):
32) Buccaneers (phuckdallas):

Now it’s time for you to vote for who YOU think should be selected in the 2021 BGN Community Consensus Mock Draft.

1) Jaguars: QB Trevor Lawrence
2) Jets: QB Zach Wilson:
3) 49ers: QB Justin Fields
4) Falcons: OT Penei Sewell
5) Bengals: WR Ja’Marr Chase
6) Dolphins: TE Kyle Pitts
7) Lions: WR DeVonta Smith
8) Panthers: OT Rashawn Slater
9) Broncos: QB Trey Lance
10) Cowboys: CB Patrick Surtain II
11) Giants: LB Micah Parsons
12) Eagles: