Jaycee Horn shrugs off awkward question from ESPN reporter about his fat new contract

Carolina's newly-paid star cornerback Jaycee Horn hasn't thought about his earnings relative to his dad, who also played in the NFL 25 years ago.

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) celebrates with guard Damien Lewis (68) and cornerback Jaycee Horn (8) and tight end Tommy Tremble (82) after scoring a touchdown to win the game in overtime at Bank of America Stadium. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers introduced their new additions one at a time throughout this past week. There's Tre'von Moehrig, there new starting safety on a $51 million contract, there's TerShawn Wharton on a $45 million deal, and so on. However, the biggest investment that the Panthers made by far this year was paying one of their own.

On Monday the team signed Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn to a four-year, $100 million extension, making him the new highest-paid defensive back in NFL history. The deal itself was an obvious move for the Panthers, who couldn't afford to lose their second-best defender. The size of Horn's contract certainly did come as a surprise, though - in no small part because of his extensive injury history.

Heading into free ageny, we had estimated that Horn would sign a new deal for no more than $20 million per year, making his IRL annual average a significant 25% higher than our estimated ceiling for him. The move has gotten the Panthers poor reviews from most quarters - and has apparently wrought some awkward questions, as well.

When Horn had his big press conference following the signing, ESPN beat writer David Newton asked him a somewhat odd question about what it felt like having the guaranted portion of his contract ($72 million) almost double what his father Joe Horn made ($36.7 million) in his entire NFL career.

Jaycee is fed up with David Newton

“What about it?”😂 pic.twitter.com/vMdRQUaVex

— The Cat Shack (@NCCatShack) March 14, 2025

This isn't the first time that a Panthers player has taken issue with one of Newton's ideas. Recently re-signed starting center Austin Corbett also put Newton on blast a few weeks ago for suggesting he didn't want to sign with a team where he'd have to compete for a starting job.

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