Carolina Panthers: 2020 end of season awards
By Dean Jones
Jeremy Chinn – Carolina Panthers OLB
The Carolina Panthers made a bold move in the 2020 NFL Draft by moving back into the second round and select Jeremy Chinn at No. 64 overall. This proved to be the shrewdest of moves by the front office in no uncertain terms thanks to the player’s ability to make his presence felt from the outset.
Chinn was seen as an athletic prospect coming out of Southern Illinois with little in the way of expectations on his shoulders. However, Carolina clearly saw something in him and after a starring role during training camp, the coaching staff was left with no option other than to give him the starting job at outside linebacker opposite Shaq Thompson.
What came next was beyond anybody’s wildest dreams.
The do-it-all defender was a revelation from the moment he stepped onto the field. Chinn’s energy at the second level was a joy to watch and the player’s high football IQ was something else that really set him apart.
He is a star in the making and the Panthers are lucky to have a player with such enormous potential to build around. Chinn is a leading candidate for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and he even made league history by becoming the first player on defense to score touchdowns on successive plays at the Minnesota Vikings in a narrow loss.
The sky is the limit for Chinn. Whether he goes back to his preferred position at safety in 2021 remains to be seen. But what’s transpired this season leaves plenty of reasons to be encouraged.