Cynthia Frelund of the NFL Network designs Colts to select South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn in the NFL Simulated Draft

According to the NFL Network Analytics Expert Cynthia Frelund, the Indianapolis Colts are designed to select South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn with the 21st overall choice of the NFL’s 2021 Draft:

21. Indianapolis Colts

Jaycee Horn

South Carolina · CB · Junior

PFF shows that Horn only allowed eight receptions on 24 targets for 116 yards in seven games in 2020.

The 6’1 “200 pound junior cornerback recorded 16 tackles (10 solo), one loss tackle, 2 interceptions and 6 defended passes during 7 games in 2020 – before choosing not to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft after the expulsion of former head coach from Gamecocks Will Muschamp.

Horn received honors from the 2nd All-SEC team, despite his shortened youth season.

He started all 12 games as a cornerback as a second year in 2019 and 10 of 11 South Carolina games just a season earlier as a real freshman in 2018 – winning Freshman All-SEC awards.

Of course, Horn is the son of a longtime former Pro Bowl player of the New Orleans Saints Joe Horn, which means that he already has a great football pedigree.

Here is the NFL Network patrol report Daniel Jeremiah on Horn, which he currently ranks as the 23rd best potential customer overall:

Classification

23. Jaycee Horn

South Carolina · CB · Junior

Horn is a big, physical cornerback with a lot of speed and instincts. He is physical with his hands to consistently redirect press coverage. It is fluid when opened and can run / stay in phase with vertical routes. Its speed in the short area is good for a large cornerback. However, he has some bad habits to stop coverage. He grabs and grabs a lot. He will draw many flags on the next level if this is not cleared. He does a good job of locating and throwing the ball on the field. He has excellent hands to finish with the ball. He is more than willing to support the race (see: big hit against Auburn). Overall, Horn needs to play more confidently out of cover (to avoid panicking and grabbing), but he has the skills to immediately stand out as a press-man cornerback.

Todd McShay of ESPN has him down slightly as the 27th best potential customer overall:

27. Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina *

HT: 6-1 | WT: 205

Grade: 90 | Previous classification: NR

The son of former NFL wide receiver Joe Horn, Jaycee is long and instinctive. And he tends to play his best in big games. Horn gave up in the middle of the 2020 season, but not before pulling in a couple of interceptions and breaking six more passes over seven games.

Here is the other draft buzz on Horn:

Regarding the current Colts prototype in the cornerback, Horn checks all the boxes: long, athletic, physical, instinctive with ball skills and who is a willing defender against the opponent’s ball carrier.

He has the necessary stamina and the ‘dawg mentality’ that the Colts really like in their individual defense players and to play collectively as a cohesive unit.

At this point, it seems that he is more adept at pressman than pure zone coverage, but he still has the natural talent and athletic ability to play well at the next level.

Although he is ‘unnecessarily physical and grabbing’ he attracts some recent flashbacks from the young Colts cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, who was plagued during a season of ups and downs in the second year because of bad habits acquired in the same way, Horn is a little more polite than a cornerback who left college.

Specifically, Horn has been battle tested as a three-year holder for Gamecocks against elite SEC competition since his freshman season (while Ya-Sin was a year-long holder at Temple at the American Athletic Conference), which really says something because Ya-Sin even started 13 games for the Colts as a green rookie in 2019.

Colts have an immediate, long-term need to start outside the cornerback, as veteran holders Xavier Rhodes (30) and TJ Carrie (30) are both free agents and are starting to get ‘a little time consuming’, even if one of them is eventually signed again by Indianapolis.

Ya-Sin suffered a second professional season, sometimes difficult, but he must remain in the mix for an initial job – as well as the companion who will soon be the third year cornerback. Marvell Tell, which is returning to the Colts after opting out of the 2020 campaign due to concerns about COVID-19.

While left tackle and edge undoubtedly remain a major off-season need for the Colts, it would not be shocking if Indianapolis believed Horn was the ‘best player available’ and selected him anyway because he is really talented and still fulfills the needs of a great team in general.

Horn should be a selection from Day 1 and, at most, a choice from Day 2 during the week of the draft.

He is one of the best defensive players in this year’s NFL Draft Class and should be highly regarded by the Colts because he fits exactly the type of cornerback that the team normally covets – in addition to filling a significant defensive gap.