Jeremy Chinn is on Pace to Win Defensive Rookie of the Year

The Panthers rookie safety is having a stellar start to his NFL career

In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Carolina Panthers made an aggressive move by trading a third and fifth round draft pick to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2nd round pick. GM Marty Hurney and head coach Matt Rhule had their guy in safety Jeremy Chinn but didn't feel like he would last until their next pick.

At the time of the pick, not many folks knew who Jeremy Chinn was or how good he would be at the pro level. Anytime you draft or sign someone from the FCS ranks, there's always a bit of concern from the fanbase and rightfully so. But through the first six games of the regular season, Chinn has done nothing but play at an extremely high level and make plays all over the field. 

Yesterday on the NFL Network, Peter Schrager became the latest to hop on the Jeremy Chinn hype train and believes that he is currently the frontrunner for defensive rookie of the year.

"The defensive rookie of the year right now is a guy named Jeremy Chinn. Every week he is making plays. He is on pace for making 128 tackles and last week had his first career interception - he also had five tackles, two passes defended. This interception was awesome on Sunday against the Bears. Chinn is everywhere on the field. He's everything that the Cardinals probably hoped Isaiah Simmons would be in the NFL in year one. Jeremy Chinn has been unbelieveable this season. I think he steps up and plays a huge role against the Saints, which A: No one expected would be an important game in week 7 and B: No one knew that Jeremy Chinn would be one of the biggest stars on the entire field."

Chinn has not only earned the respect from national analysts like Schrager, but his teammates have a great deal of respect for his game and the way he approaches each day. Panthers veteran safety Tre Boston agreed that Chinn should be in the running for defensive rookie of the year and has even came up with a little nickname for him to solidify how talented and promising he is.

"Jeremy Chinn is the Real Deal Holyfield. What I love about him is his high energy man, the guy plays 110 mph each and every play. He has what you call those young fresh legs and he's able to use them. He's not afraid to hit, he can do just about everything. Shoutout to his parents because he's a freak of nature. Overall? Jeremy Chinn is Real Deal Holyfield."

Chinn currently leads all rookies and is 12th in the entire league with 49 tackles. He also has three passes defended, one interception, and one tackle for loss while playing multiple positions. Although we're only six games into the regular season, Jeremy Chinn is in a great position to win defensive rookie of the year and I'm not sure that it's even close at this point.

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