Panthers picking up fifth-year option on CB Jaycee Horn

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The fifth-year option was a big reason the Carolina Panthers traded into the first round on Thursday night to draft cornerback Xavier Legette at No. 32, and now the organization is using that option on its 2021 first-round pick.

The team, per league source, will exercise the option on cornerback Jaycee Horn to lock him down through the 2025 season.

Horn, the No. 8 pick in 2021, is projected to make $12.472 million in 2025.

Injuries have limited Horn to 22 of 51 games the past three seasons. He played only six games last season and three his rookie season.

But the Panthers believe that when healthy, Horn is one of the best in the NFL.

Legette credited Horn, his teammate at the University of South Carolina for two seasons, for making him worthy of being a first-round pick.

"Jaycee is part of the reason I became a good player,'' Legette said. "He's very patient at the line. You can't just do anything on Jaycee, man. Jaycee, like I said, he is a good player and he made me better.''

And having the opportunity to one day use the fifth-year option on Legette was why general manager Dan Morgan traded with the Buffalo Bills to move up one spot from 33 to get him.

Carolina sent picks No. 33 and 141 to the Bills for 32 and 200.

"That was obviously a big reason to trade up into the first round,'' Morgan said. "Besides the player, we love Xavier. Everything he brought, not only as a person, but as a player.

"[We] like his ability to attack the ball when it's in the air, his ability to run with it after the catch. He's just big, he's strong, he's physical. I think he has a lot of upside. We wanted to take that opportunity to go get our guy. That's what we felt.''

Horn, when healthy, has the same characteristics as a defender, which is why Morgan picked up the option.

The NFL Network first reported the news of the Panthers picking up Horn's option.