The 2021 NFL Draft is next month. We know how many picks the Green Bay Packers will have.
We also know that cornerback is the team’s number one need this offseason barring some significant changes in free agency prior to that.
It would make sense, then, for general manager Brian Gutekunst to target the cornerback position early in the draft, possibly with the team’s 29th overall selection.
That’s how it plays out in Dan Schmelzer’s latest mock draft for NFL Mocks. In the first round, Schmelzer sees Green Bay selecting South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn, one of the best cornerbacks in this year’s class.
Schmelzer writes that Horn is an “extremely aggressive corner who plays the receiver well and can absolutely suffocate opposing receivers at the line of scrimmage”. Sounds like he’d be exactly the type of player the Packers are looking for.
Of all the realistic possibilities for the Packers in the opening round, this would have to be up there as one of the best-case scenarios.
Horn is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, and has 23 pass defenses with two interceptions over the past three seasons at South Carolina.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Horn 23rd in his rankings of the best prospects in the class, writing that “Horn is a big, physical cornerback with plenty of speed and instincts”.
Horn is one of the best cornerback prospects in the class and has the potential to be a superstar in the NFL. The Packers just so happen to already have an All-Pro cornerback on the roster in Jaire Alexander. Now imagine Horn lining up on the opposite side of the field.
According to Pro Football Focus, Horn has a tremendous forced incompletion rate of 21.9 percent since 2019.
If Horn is still there when teams are picking in the early 20s, Brian Gutekunst should be on the phone looking to trade up. If a scenario plays out similar to this mock and the Packers are able to select Horn at No. 29, it would be an incredible start to the draft.
Horn could provide some immediate help at cornerback and has the potential to become a star at his position.