When head coach Matt Rhule took over the Carolina Panthers in 2020, he took up a barebones backend of a defense as well. Other than cornerback Donte Jackson, Carolina’s collection of defensive backs—for the most part—were less of a “Who’s Who” and way more of a “Who’s That?”
But now, to the credit of Rhule and his front office, they’re considerably closer to becoming the former.
Pro Football lead draft analyst Mike Renner recently ranked the league’s 32 secondaries. And although they’re not exactly amongst the elite, they may be well on their way—thanks, in part, to two promising first-rounders.
“Trying to rank this Panthers secondary prior to the 2022 season is somewhat of a fool’s errand,” writes Renner, who places the Panthers’ unit at No. 15. “You won’t find any other units in the league that feature two cornerbacks drafted in the top 10 within the past three years. Jaycee Horn is likely the guy who could push this unit up from Tier 3 to Tier 2 if he comes back healthy from a broken foot. In three starts last year, he allowed only one catch on five targets for eight yards.
Along with Horn, who was 2021’s eighth overall pick, Carolina also has CJ Henderson at their disposal. Henderson, the ninth overall selection from a year earlier, was acquired from the Jacksonville Jaguars in a midseason trade last September.
The team, additionally, has some solid depth behind that trio of Jackson, Horn and Henderson. Keith Taylor Jr., Rashaan Melvin, Myles Hartsfield and Stantley Thomas-Oliver III have—to respective degrees—brought encouraging contributions to the defense over the past two campaigns.
Oh, and let’s not forget one of the most reliable safety duos in the game in Jeremy Chinn and Xavier Woods, who just signed on a three-year pact this spring.
Say what you want about how little the Matt Rhule era has brought to the Panthers—because you can. But you can’t say it hasn’t, at the very least, given the team a solid foundation to a secondary that was previously in absolute shambles.
