5 Carolina Panthers off the trade table at all costs in 2022 and beyond

Carolina Panthers must not trade Jaycee Horn

As hard as it might be to give Matt Rhule’s regime credit for anything, they certainly deserve a portion of the credit for making the right decision to draft Jaycee Horn. The 2021 first-round pick appears to be exactly the cornerback everyone hoped for despite the pieces around him struggling.

Horn’s season is hard to break down in some ways when you consider the mess of a secondary that has been around him over the last three weeks. This was supposed to be an area of strength for the Carolina Panthers, but they’ve flattered to deceive outside of the South Carolina product.

If you’re another team looking at Carolina’s roster knowing they are selling, is there a piece you’re willing to spend more on than Horn? This is where the temptation might come in for an organization that has made one poor decision after another.

However, even Carolina cannot be clueless enough to move on from Horn, who is in the second year of his rookie deal and still has three years of team control before the Panthers will be forced to pay him.

When a team finds players like Horn, it’s a gift not even the Panthers can waste. He is en route to becoming the elite corner Carolina needs to build around and arguably has lacked since Josh Norman’s impressive two-year run.

Trading Horn would be a monumental mistake. Something the Panthers are not going to contemplate if they have any sense.