When the Panthers drafted Jeremy Chinn, I wasn’t sure what position they planned to use him at. I guess that goes for whatever team that drafted the Southern Illinois defender. Carolina announced him as a safety but Chinn says he is planning to play numerous positions for the Panthers.
“I wouldn’t even give myself a position,” Chinn said, via the team’s website. “I think I’m just a defensive weapon. I think I’m just a threat. . . . “They’ve showed me that they want me doing a lot. Just from meetings with me going back and forth between different positions and learning so many positions, and learning what guys are doing all around me from the D-line, to the backend, to the corners, and everything. So I think prioritizing my knowledge as far as what everyone is doing, I think that’ll open up a lot of positions for me that I’ll actually be able to play.”
I wrote in my combine notes that Chinn looked stiff with some rough knee bend but recorded some big time explosion numbers. From watching him during the predraft process, Chinn looked more like a safety to me. The good news is that he does come with ball production recording 7 interceptions the last two years in college.
More so than anything, the Panthers just need dudes on that defense. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when they used every pick they had on the defensive side of that ball. Carolina had the 31st ranked defense in 2019. Oh, and that was with Luke Keuchly. The Panthers traded up for the hybrid safety so let’s hope for their sake they got this one right.
