Panthers News: Jeremy Chinn, injuries, winning the NFC South and Bryce Young

Jeremy Chinn poised for bounce-back with Carolina Panthers

The upcoming season represents a crossroads for Jeremy Chinn. The versatile defensive weapon is coming off an indifferent campaign - his second in succession at the safety position - but all hope is not lost yet as the Carolina Panthers get set to make better use of the player's dynamic traits under Ejiro Evero.

Carolina's progressive defensive coordinator has already stated that Chinn will be deployed wherever there are mismatches. That could be on the backend, as a nickel cornerback, or closer to the line of scrimmage among the linebackers within Evero's interchangeable 3-4 base scheme.

Chinn is also entering a contract year, so the motivation is there for all to see. Something that led Schuyler Callihan from Sports Illustrated to tip the former Southern Illinois stud for a bounce-back season in 2023.

"After posting 100+ tackles in his first two years in the league, Chinn finished 2022 with 71. But don't be completely fooled by that number as he played in just 11 games last season. That said, he still wasn't quite as productive as the Panthers expected him to be and maybe the injury had something to do with it. Chinn's tackles per game have dropped each season he's been in the league going from 7.8 to 6.6 to 6.3. There's no reason to panic, though. The previous coaching regime had him bouncing back and forth between positions and didn't really allow him to settle in. He'll still play multiple spots in Ejiro Evero's defense, but they'll have him closer to the ball more often than not, putting him in position to be a playmaker."

- Schuyler Callihan, Sports Illustrated

Chinn has all the athletic intangibles needed to become highly influential under one of the brightest young defensive minds in the business. Something that would put him in a strong position when it's time for his representatives to begin contract negotiations.