The Carolina Panthers selected safety Jeremy Chinn from Southern Illinois with the final pick in the second round of the NFL draft on Friday night.
Chinn was a late-bloomer who spent four years as a dominant force in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, enough so to earn national recognition his senior year and elevate his draft profile.
Here’s what you need to know about Chinn:
Measurables: 6’3”/221
School: Southern Illinois
2019 Stats: 71 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 4 INT, 7 PD, FR, Sack
Accolades: 2019 Consensus All-American; first-team All-MVFC (2019, 2018); second-team All-MVFC (2017); 2016 MVFC All-Newcomer Team, first-team Freshman All-American by HERO Sports
Strengths:
• Outstanding size and speed
• Nose for the ball, plays aggressive
• Strong tackler, excels in zone coverage
• Versatility: can play multiple spots on defense
Weaknesses:
• More reactive, instincts and football IQ could use improvement
• Slow on reads
• Needs work on technique and timing in man coverage
"Safety prospect with compelling size, speed and athletic ability. He has man cover skills. Very willing and able as a tackler, but despite his diverse skill set, his effectiveness can wane when asked to multitask. Chinn is at his best when he's actively engaged and not sitting in space dissecting what comes next. His ball skills and athleticism are strengths that help define his value and teams will need to find ways to put him in position to utilize both without exposing his inconsistent field awareness. He might find a future role as a big nickel or a cover linebacker who can drag tight ends around the field in sub-packages." - Lance Zeirlein, NFL.com
Tape:
Player Comparison: Harrison Smith
There are not a whole lot of 6-foot-3, 220-pound safeties out there, so the Vikings five-time Pro Bowl safety makes sense from a size standpoint, and he has the turnover production to match. Smith, however, played at Notre Dame and proved himself at a high level of competition in college. Chinn still has to show he can put those same kind of numbers up against stiffer competition. There is a lot of work to be done with Chinn, but Smith projects to be his ceiling.