CHARLOTTE — There's always something more you can do.

So for Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn, that meant doing anything extra he could while he wasn't practicing.

The stitches around his left thumb are still in, so he's still not taking part in a full practice, but he's doing what he can. That meant working on one-handed catches during drills, which is partially just to protect himself, but partially so he can stay engaged.

"I just wanted to like stay in the groove," Horn said Tuesday. "Seeing the ball, the quarterback's hands, and breaking on the ball.

"It was more so for that reason, but I mean it's fun to try to make the one-handed catch."

It sounds benign when he says it like that, but it's consistent with his pattern this offseason, as he comes off his first Pro Bowl season.

When he's had a day off for any reason, he's usually got a practice script in his hand, and he's following along.

Even during OTAs, he'd sneak over from the defensive sideline to behind the offensive huddle to look at things from a different perspective. It's not something he's always done, but as he enters his fifth season, it's something Horn finds important to keep pushing himself. So when he comes back, he has notes to compare with a veteran like Mike Jackson, but also advice for a rookie like Corey Thornton.

"Definitely, just having more years under my belt, seeing more football, I kind of like to watch the offense," he said. "I kind of play a guessing game with myself, where they're going to run based off splits, formations, or whatever. And also watching the DBs, when Mike comes to the sideline telling him something I saw, Corey, in the same way, he's a young guy, so I watch a lot of him.

"But yeah, just trying to be in the game with being on the sideline, trying to stay tapped in mentally and just get mental reps so when I'm back I don't miss a beat."

Of course, he'll also find offensive coordinator Brad Idzik at times, both to keep the competitive banter up, but also to compare notes.

"We always talk," Horn said. "Because we'll be going back and forth after the 7-on-7 period or talking a little trash, but you know we're always asking for insight, like what he was thinking on that when he drew that play up, or what coverage he was looking for, and we kind of just bounce ideas back and forth

"For me and Mike Jack try to get into OC's heads to see what they're going to be thinking on certain down-and-distances, and then I guess for him like he said just getting feedback from me and Mike Jack and how we think and how we plan it it'll you know help both of us on game day to be better."

He's also becoming more willing to share that knowledge and that banter with anyone. On Tuesday, that meant hyping up the youth football players from the Police Activities League who scrimmaged at the end of Panthers practice.

"I just love ball, so like even when the little kids were out there, I was yelling, running around with them, I don't know, I love football," Horn said. "I love anything where the competitive nature comes out. So yeah, that's just who I am."

That nature is part of what made last year's Pro Bowl recognition sweet for him, but it also has a carryover effect for the entire roster.

Idzik said whether it was Derrick Brown pushing his linemen to perform, or Horn and Jackson challenging receivers, that kind of intensity matters. So when Horn isn't practicing, Idzik will find him and steal a few moments for debriefing, which he then carries back to the receivers.

"I love those guys; when we're in special teams period, they're over there doing their individual work while we're working with the quarterbacks, and not only do they bring a physical style that challenges our receivers and prepares them. I think TMac (Tetairoa McMillan) early on had a great experience with those guys; you're not always going to get holding calls. These guys are vets, they're wily vets, they can hide their hands. So it's teaching him the physicality of the game before he even steps on a gameday field.

"But then also I get to pick their brains. Hey, what do you see there? How do you squat on that one, and then they're talking to me about splits, they're talking to me about things that we presented earlier in practice or earlier in camp, and we get to talk about our offense from their point of view, which is invaluable."

As to the stitches from last week's car accident, and whether he'd be available for this week's joint practice with the Texans, Horn didn't have much to share beyond the general.

"I'm good, man," he said. "As soon as I get the stitches out, I'll be ready to roll."

And even if he's not on the field in uniform, he'll be on the field and locked in. Likely doing anything he can to dissect the Texans' offense, to look at new receivers, to file away something that might be useful down the road.

But more than anything, he'll be pushing — himself and others.

"I challenge everybody, like nobody specifically," he said. "I just say like from group-to-group, from ones and twos and threes, we've just got to have that energy. I think starting off having a good defense, just everybody wants to be out there, and when the energy's up, you're going to play faster, you're going to have more heads running into the football.

"So yeah, we've just got to have the right mindset going out there, no matter who, whether I'm out, whether I'm in, or somebody else is out. There's a standard for the Panthers, and that's how we want to attack."