What Panthers DC said about Jaycee Horn's Pro Bowl nod

Ejiro Evero highlighted one thing that led to Jaycee Horn having such a strong year.

Oct 13, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn (8) during the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Jaycee Horn was the only Carolina Panthers player to get to the Pro Bowl. Three of his teammates were named alternates, but Horn made it in on the strength of a really solid season. For the first time in a long time, excluding last week, Horn has been the picture of health this season.

That health has allowed him to rack up the playing time and statistics that got him into the Pro Bowl. His pairing with secondary-minded defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has paid off as well. Here's what the coordinator had to say about Horn after the Pro Bowl nod was confirmed.

Ejiro Evero praises Jaycee Horn's health in Pro Bowl season

#Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero on what made Jaycee Horn’s offseason regimen so successful — which led to a durable 2024 en route to a Pro Bowl nod.

Full answer: pic.twitter.com/CTanax5wug

— Alex Zietlow (@alexzietlow05) January 2, 2025

To make the Pro Bowl, an NFL player must be pretty healthy for most of the season. Missing games won't get them in, and Horn didn't miss games. He was absent last week, but he had played all 15 before that outing. His defensive coordinator praised that fact and highlighted how he was able to do it.

Ejiro Evero said, "I just gotta give a lot of love to the performance staff, who worked with him diligently. I know a lot of it was in-house. Some of it was remote. But there was a great connection between all of them in terms of what needed to be done on a daily basis."

"As coaches, we get them when we get them in the offseason, and certainly in training camp and in-season, but so much of that work that's done leading up to that," Evero went on. "The performance people and Jaycee are really doing most of it. So a lot of credit to them."

Horn's stats against the best receivers the Panthers faced are excellent. His overall metrics are really good, although Mike Jackson had a slightly better PFF grade among Panthers cornerbacks. Nevertheless, it was clearly a season worthy of recognition by the NFL. Part of that is directly due to health, because it's the one thing the old Horn didn't have.

In previous years, Horn would be as lockdown as anyone but couldn't stay on the field. That wasn't the problem in 2024, and it yielded a great season.

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