Will Jeremy Chinn be a Panther in 2024?
Notre Dame’s pass defense stacks up well against Duke Maven – Notre Dame’s battle with the Carolina Irish seemed to find its way into the season a hidden gem vault by Jeremy Chinn. Many believed, myself included, that he should have won NFC Defensive Player of the Year.
He finished second in the voting, falling to Washington’s Chase Young. During his first three years with the Panthers, Chinn was used in multiple roles due to his versatility and developed into one of the team’s key defenders.
With the arrival of new defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, everyone expected Chinn to really step up and be a vital part of the defense going forward. Instead, it was the opposite.
Chinn was on the field in just 52% of all defensive starts and wasn’t much of a playmaker, mostly due to a lack of opportunities. Why is that? “There are special packages for him,” Evero said a week ago.
“Obviously, we’re going to try to play him and Troy (Hill) at that nickel position and then get Jeremy in some dime spots. Go third, we’ll get him on the field and then some specialists.
Discount as well. Our level of execution, our ability to play more a good running game and getting into more passing situations will make that possible.” I’m not really sure why the defense has to get into more passing situations to get Chinn on the field.
He has always been vulnerable in pass coverage and would benefit from playing more snaps. Regardless, there’s no point in Chinn being on the field. Unfortunately Jeremy recently suffered a quad injury which is expected to sideline him for up to six weeks.
A guy struggling to get on the field in the final year of his rookie contract is hard to be around. Will Chinn be in Carolina in 2024 and beyond? My guess at the moment would be no. The Panthers want to spread their money carefully and spend on receivers, maybe a tight end, and of course re-signing Brian Burns and Frankie Luvu.
Safeties are not highly regarded in the league, and Chinn’s low usage rate sends a signal to me that he is not a good fit for this system.
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