Panthers’ stars proved in Week 7 win that they’re turning the corner into the true game-changers Carolina needs
Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown paved the way for Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.
When it comes to building a competitive team in the NFL, good players aren’t enough. If you want to be a serious team that can compete any given Sunday, you need to have at least one/two elite players that can be true game changers.
And if you’re a bottom barrel team in the NFL, the climb from the basement won’t start until you can find those elite players to add to the foundation of the roster. For the Carolina Panthers, it’s starting to be clear who those players are and it’s not at the quarterback position.
Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn are emerging as true stars for the Panthers
Over the last two seasons, the Panthers have only had two players reach the Pro Bowl: DT Derrick Brown in 2023 and CB Jaycee Horn in 2024. Going into the 2025 season, both former first-round selections by Carolina looked to be foundational players for the franchise and both players are starting to reach the elite player status.
Horn and Brown were each game-changers in their own way in Week 7 to help close out a tight game against the New York Jets on the road, a game in which the offense struggled and needed the defense to come out on top.
Let’s start with Horn. The team’s top cornerback is reaching the upper tier of boundary cornerbacks in the NFL and is starting to be a player opposing quarterbacks better not test. Veteran backup Tyrod Taylor learned that the hard way throwing two interceptions against Horn.
“It was huge, just from a standpoint of guys expecting their teammates to show up and make big plays,” head coach Dave Canales explained. “Just the excitement and the energy that brought the sideline for him to come up with both of those interceptions in critical situations.”
It was Horn’s first career game with two interceptions and as a lockdown defender, the lack of stats was always a knock on his game, but it’s a lazy argument. Among cornerbacks with 250+ coverage snaps, Horn is tied with the 3rd-fewest targets (30) and allowed just 16 receptions. It’s hard to get on the stat sheet unless quarterbacks are silly enough to throw your way like Taylor was on Sunday.
Horn has been completely shutting down an entire side of the field every game and now coming away with key turnovers as well. Yet, it still feels like he’s scratching the surface of his potential.
As for Brown, the interior threat has been a menace all season long and is playing better than any interior defender in the league in all areas of the game. His 81.9 run defense grade ranks sixth among all interior defenders and his 80.9 pass rush grade is tied for sixth as well.
He’s dominating at the line of scrimmage against combo blocks and absolutely throwing offensive linemen to the ground. Not to mention chasing down mobile quarterbacks in space like he did on Sunday being able to get Taylor out of bounds for a sack.
Without these two players, the Panthers probably don’t win that game against the Jets. And while it was against a bad team, those two dominated on Sunday as game-changers. The next step comes from seeing that same level of impact against higher quality opponents coming up on the schedule.
And the message after the game from Horn and Brown was clear. There wasn’t going to be any celebrating after Sunday after a third straight win. It’s back to the drawing board on Monday and finding ways to continue to improve. That’s the way it should be and they’re sending the right message to the rest of the locker room on and off the field. You win with players like that.
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