Panthers OTAs: Better-than-you-think corner group shines in early practices

As you might expect from a group that finished the season having allowed more points than any team in NFL history, the Carolina Panthers' defense had a lot of problems last year. However, if you didn't actually take the time to watch them, you might not know that the cornerback unit was definitely not one of them.

While the rest of the defense (not counting Derrick Brown) was pretty much totally turned over this offseason, Carolina did the smart thing by keeping last year's cornerback room together. The Panthers might have overpaid a bit for Jaycee Horn, but retaining him was a no-brainer after a breakout 2024 season, his first career Pro Bowl year.

Mike Jackson was also a pleasant surprise on the other boundary after coming over in a late trade from the Seattle Seahawks just before the season started. Jackson played sharp enough to earn himself a well-deserved two-year contract.

The slot position was problematic most of the season, but rookie Chau Smith-Wade showed a lot of promise down the stretch. For the year he only allowed one touchdown and a 75.4 passer rating in coverage, which should be enough to earn him the starting nickel job at least to start 2025.

Together this is one of the league's better starting cornerback units - even if there's no proven options behind the top three - which is something you can say of most teams, anyway.

Not much has leaked out of the Panthers' tightly-lidded OTAs practices, but according to one beat reporter this corner group was impressive in their first practice. Here's the account from Mike Kaye at the Charlotte Observer.

Panthers corners shine at OTAs

"Along with the highlights on offense, the defense had a couple of standout plays as well. Second-year cornerback Chau Smith-Wade picked off a pass from Young that was meant for McMillan over the middle of the field... Later in the workout, Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn made a nice pass breakup on McMillan toward the sideline."