We continue our countdown to the Panthers regular season opener
The Panthers will play football in one week’s time, and to celebrate we’ll breakdown number 7 and number 8 on the roster (sorry we missed yesterday) — LB Shaq Thompson and CB Jaycee Horn, two heavy hitters for the Panthers defense.
Shaq Thompson came came to Carolina as the 25th overall selection following their infamous 7-8-1 2014 season where the team made the playoffs and hilariously won a playoff game against the Cardinals. Shaq Thompson looked like a luxury pick for a team that already had some solid linebackers in Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis, however that team managed a 15-1 regular season and managed to make the Super Bowl. Over time, Shaq and long snapper JJ Jansen are the last men standing from that squad in 2023. Thompson now finds himself as the leader of this Panthers’ unit, and returns from a season where he hit a career high 135 tackles after starting all 17 games in 2022. Shaq took a pay cut to return to Carolina this season, and will team with Frankie Luvu as the Panthers’ inside linebacker crew.
Jaycee Horn came to Carolina as the 8th overall selection in the 2021 Draft. Horn looked every bit the part of a top 10 Draft pick that season, however a freak broken foot injury ended his season after just 3 games. He returned in 2022 and continued to look that part in the 13 games he played, logging 53 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 7 pass deflections. Unfortunately, he missed 4 games due to a couple of different injuries, and his absence caused Keith Taylor and CJ Henderson to get absolutely cooked at the end of the 2022 season in a game against Tampa Bay with big playoff implications for the NFC South.
Both of these players will be center pieces for Frank Reich and Ejiro Evero’s new defense. I expect Shaq to be the usual consistent but unspectacular linebacker where Jaycee Horn is a shutdown corner already in his young career when he’s healthy. Share your thoughts below, Panthers fans!
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