Last week, the Carolina Panthers’ Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn was involved in a car accident outside of Bank of America Stadium. Luckily for Horn, the worst damage he suffered was requiring stitches to his thumb from the airbag deploying. However, the injuries have sidelined him from practice, but he is still present and active from the sidelines.
Horn is still making his presence felt at Panthers practices, and showing why he’s ready to step into a leadership position after becoming the highest-paid member of the team this offseason. Horn is one of the leaders trying to turn around the NFL’s worst-ranked defense last season and give them a new mentality. The superstar corner discussed this in July with Panthers team website writer Kassidy Hill.
“That’s just mentality, how this team is going to be branded, you know, a physical football team,” Horn said. “Win, lose, or draw, when you go in there and see the Panthers, it’s going to be a physical football game. You’re going to be hurting afterwards, and that’s just the attitude we’ve got to have, and that’s got to be our brand of football when we travel and play.”
Even while absent from physically practicing, Horn is making sure that the mentality is still being instilled during practice.
Coaching While Injured
As a leader, Jaycee Horn is making sure that the rest of his Panthers teammates still feel his presence, even when he’s not on the field. Whether it’s coaching up a fellow corner or giving the receivers tips, Horn’s voice is a part of practice.
Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette is well aware of Horn’s presence, as he told Kassidy Hill and Darin Gantt of the Panther’s team website.
“The same way, how you see him on the sideline, that’s the same way he is on the field. He don’t ever be quiet,” joked Legette. “I ain’t got nothing to say. I just let him know, if I feel like I got him on something, I just let him know. And vice versa, he’ll let me know, ‘No, X, that ain’t it.”
Horn, now in his fifth year, realizes that his impact off the field can be just as significant as his impact on the field.
Horn Would Be Playing in the Regular Season
Jaycee Horn on Monday continued to do work on a side field in preparation to return to practice, and Panthers head coach Dave Canales spoke to reporters about Horn’s status going forward.
“If we were playing a game, he would be fine to do that; he would be out there,” Canales said. “Just kind of taking care of it because we are in preseason mode right now. He had some stitches in between his thumb and index finger, and so we’ve just got to make sure that that thing’s healing up the right way so that no infections happen or there’s no setbacks. It’s not worth it to put him in that situation.”
The Panthers are taking a cautious approach with Horn, but he should be ready to go for the team’s Week 1 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the meantime, Horn will continue to lead even while not playing.
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