Philadelphia Eagles, seven-round mock draft: Picking 12th
By Hunter Doyle
player. 850. . CB. Gamecocks . Jaycee Horn. 12
The Philadelphia Eagles get their cornerback of the future.
Even before they decided to trade back, we knew there would be some new faces mocked to the Birds at number 12. Expect Jaycee Horn to be one of the potential prospects. New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon will likely implement elements of both Matt Eberflus’ defense in Indianapolis and Mike Zimmer’s defense in Minnesota (Gannon coached under Zimmer from 2014-2017).
That means that he’ll need some physical corners who can play press-man and get in a wideout’s face. That is exactly what Horn excels at.
The South Carolina corner fears no wideout and regularly locked down some of the wideouts in the nation while playing in the SEC. Not only can Horn blanket receivers but he can also recover quickly when he is beaten. The last South Carolina cornerback to be picked in the top 12 was Stephon Gillmore who went tenth overall, and Horn has a very similar playing style.
Just in case you missed it, Horn ran a 4.39 40-yard dash, had a 41.5-inch vertical jump, and he posted an 11-foot-one inch broad jump. He also racked up 19 bench reps, but that isn’t all.
His arms were measured at 33 inches. While Pro Days and the NFL Combines obviously aren’t everything, these numbers only validated Horn’s draft stock. The athleticism and length are on full display if you watch his tape.
Horn is going to have to learn early in his NFL career to be a bit less aggressive so that he doesn’t get flagged, but he has the makings of an elite corner for years to come. As Ben Fennell told us, it’s easier to “dial back that aggressiveness rather than to ramp it up”.