CHARLOTTE — For the past five years, it's been easy to spot Jaycee Horn. When he was on the field for the Carolina Panthers, it was always on the boundary, patrolling the sidelines and terrorizing quarterbacks from his spot there. And he did it well, making two Pro Bowls and leading the league in interceptions for a corner last season.

But as he's become more and more comfortable with Ejiro Evero's defense, coaches knew there was a part of Horn's game yet to be unlocked: letting him shift inside, confusing quarterbacks by setting up shop even closer to them from the nickel slot position. Which is why this training camp, if you want to spot Jaycee Horn, it'll require scanning the entire field, peeking around linebackers, and behind defensive linemen.

"We did it a little bit last year in practice and just flirted with it," Horn shared Wednesday following the Panthers' training camp practice. "But this year, this is my first time really just staying in there and playing almost every down in there."

Horn played the position some of his freshman season of college at South Carolina, then in 2022 for the Panthers. That season he was used in the slot 16 percent of the time (135 snaps). In 2025, he was there a mere eight snaps, which is 0.008 percent, for those wondering. But, as he said, the Panthers "flirted" with the idea some in practice, playing around with what could be.

Heading into this training camp, coaches knew it was time to open the Horn section of the playbook, to the corner's delight.

"Just being able to make plays in the pass game, in the slot, in the run game, playing behind the line of scrimmage a little more, blitzing a little more, it would make it a little bit more fun," Horn grinned.

His blitzing ability has been on display before. He picked up 2.0 sacks in 2024, albeit both on corner blitzes.

While Horn has played from the slot before, there is little transferable knowledge, he said.

"A lot of 2022 was just a lot of dropping to a spot, zone drops. Your job didn't really change much. But in this defense, one motion could switch your whole job and responsibility," Horn explained.

"So kind of just getting into the playbook more. As a corner, you only got three jobs; you don't have to think that much. You just go out there and play. But at nickel, you got to kind of know what's going on with each motion and be able to switch your job, because if you don't, you mess up the whole defense."

With such a responsibility on his shoulders, Horn reached out to Jalen Ramsey. He played this role for Evero when they won a Super Bowl together in Los Angeles. The year the Rams won that ring, when Evero was the secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator, Ramsey lined up in the slot on approximately 30 percent of his defensive snaps.

That regular season, Ramsey finished with 77 tackles, 16 passes defensed with four interceptions, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

"So, just seeing the plays he made at that position, at the nickel position, and moving around has kind of made me more open to it," Horn admitted. "I'm starting to get a good feel for it, and it's pretty fun playing in there instead of just sitting in the boundary all game."

Horn and Ramsey have been friends since the former's rookie year in the league. Now that Horn is being asked to play the "Ramsey role" for all intents and purposes, though, the Panthers' corner has made it a point to pick Ramsey's brain.

"I got a chance to get with him this offseason," shared Horn. "We got some work in, and I just talked to him about what they were trying to do and how he thought, how he played in the slot, how he thought of the techniques, and it's been serving me well so far."

Playing more inside means for the first time in their career together, Horn is lining up next to Mike Jackson. The duo have already perfected playing opposite each other, but now are diving into an entirely new facet of their playing relationship.

"It's cool," shrugged Jackson. "Now me and Jaycee are actually on the same side, so we're talking in between the play, how he likes to see certain things, letting him know I'll just play off him, so it's kind of cool."

If Horn moves to the slot for a play, the Panthers will (likely) turn to rookie Will Lee III, based on how training camp has gone so far. They are big shoes to step into, but the Texas A&M product has handled the pressure.

"He's doing good, a great job out there," praised Horn of Lee. "He's doing a great job. He's kind of trying to get used to giving up catches and getting scored on sometimes. But I try to just remind him that, as a part of the NFL, those guys get paid too.

"You can't lose your confidence. You got to keep showing up every day and just keep trying to get better and focus on your process."

Added Jackson, "My young one, he real funny, Will been balling though. He just comes to work every day. He listens, and he tries to apply whatever we tell him, so that's cool."

It should be noted this doesn't mean Horn is completely changing positions. Carolina has molded Chau Smith-Wade over the last two years to be their primary nickel corner, and Corey Thornton has also worked there this season. And as mentioned, even when Ramsey was playing this role, he wasn't exclusively in the slot.

Furthermore, at the end of the day, Jaycee Horn has made his reputation as being a phenomenal boundary corner. But a good corner keeps an opposing passer on their toes.

Now, with a chance to disguise his intentions from different spots on the field, Horn will have the freedom to taunt the quarterback even more.

"But yeah," shrugged Horn, "we'll see where it takes us as far as how it works out during the season."