{"id":116371,"date":"2021-06-13T12:29:19","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T16:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=116371"},"modified":"2021-06-13T12:29:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T16:29:19","slug":"jeremy-chinn-safety-carolina-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/06\/13\/jeremy-chinn-safety-carolina-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Jeremy Chinn Succeed At Safety?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Carolina Panthers did not have a good defense in 2020, but they have one very promising young starter in Jeremy Chinn. The Southern Illinois product excelled at linebacker last year, recording 117 tackles while finishing second to Chase Young for Defensive Rookie of the Year. However, after that successful campaign, head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/31555041\/carolina-panthers-moving-rookie-standout-jeremy-chinn-linebacker-safety\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Rhule announced<\/a> that Chinn will move back to safety in 2021. Is the former second-round pick up to the task, and can he be even better next year?<\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;5549&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h2>Carolina Panthers Film Review: Will Jeremy Chinn Succeed At Safety?<\/h2>\n<p>Before we look into Chinn\u2019s ability at safety, we first need to address why the change is happening in the first place. Even though the former second-round pick had a fantastic season at linebacker, he isn\u2019t built to play the position long-term. At 6\u2019-3\u201d and 221 pounds, Chinn is smaller than your typical linebacker. While he didn\u2019t struggle to wrap up ball carriers in 2020, it stands to reason that his smaller frame would have a hard time surviving in the trenches.<\/p>\n<p>Chinn had a great rookie season, but there were times that his smaller frame became an issue. The rookie only had one sack and five quarterback hits throughout the season, which is not what you want to see from the position. Chinn is faster than just about every offensive lineman in the game, but he simply doesn\u2019t have the size to beat a tackle or guard when squared up. This issue also emerged in the screen game, as shown in the clip below.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Andrus Peat introducing himself to Panthers rookie Jeremy Chinn on the screen. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/icRBc1fpUT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/icRBc1fpUT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByLukeJohnson\/status\/1320812114722914305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Given a full offseason to break down Chinn\u2019s strengths and weaknesses, it\u2019s very possible that opposing offenses could take advantage of his relatively small build. Moving him to safety, however, allows Chinn to spend more time out of the box and not having to go blow-for-blow with bigger, stronger offensive linemen.<\/p>\n<h4>What Chinn Can Do At Safety<\/h4>\n<p>Range and athleticism have always been the name of Chinn\u2019s game dating back to his time in college. At the NFL Combine, Chinn tested in the 85<sup>th<\/sup> percentile for the 40-yard dash while also testing incredibly well in the vertical jump, broad jump, and bench press. While he is undersized for a linebacker, his height and weight are both in the 93<sup>rd<\/sup> percentile among safeties. If Chinn can be a good linebacker at his build, then he can be a great safety.<\/p>\n<p>This range was already on display as a rookie, as the second-round pick displayed a fantastic ability to go across the field and bring down the ball carrier. Additionally, he could hold his own against tight ends in coverage and should see more opportunity to do that in 2021.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Panthers rookie (21) Jeremy Chinn is a stud! His speed\/range jumps off the screen. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4XoALotg02\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/4XoALotg02<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MoveTheSticks\/status\/1308837717476868097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 23, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The biggest issue with Jeremy Chinn is if he\u2019s improved his football IQ enough to play deep safety. Route diagnosis was his biggest flaw coming out of college, and his slow instincts were the biggest reason <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/03\/29\/jeremy-chinn-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">I gave him a fourth-round draft grade<\/a> (oops). Chinn already outplayed my expectations, but he didn\u2019t spend that much time playing deep zone as a rookie.<\/p>\n<p>In a perfect world, Chinn will continue to improve his deep play and become a fantastic do-everything safety. However, the far more likely outcome is that he turns into someone like Patrick Chung. During his playing days, Chung spent the vast majority of his time as a pseudo-safety, dropping into the box on obvious run plays and covering tight ends in man coverage the rest of the time. Chung was quietly one of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\">New England<\/a>\u2019s most important defensive pieces during their second dynasty, and Chinn has a very similar skillset.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"MmxN8TezQ3B9_gQCibwkgQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1288667887\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'MmxN8TezQ3B9_gQCibwkgQ',sig:'NBl6hpQc0qqwXHvVDnvgeX9OrNoj_S7hoPg4qwpY8Q8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1288667887',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said that Jeremy Chinn will play safety in 2021 &#8211; what does the film say about this decision?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":116372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7546,6264,7661],"class_list":["post-116371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","tag-carolina-panthers-roster","tag-jeremy-chinn","tag-panthers-featured"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}