Steelers Met with South Carolina CB Jaycee Horn Tuesday

The Steven Nelson saga is over in Pittsburgh after Nelson was released by the Steelers Tuesday. However, that was not the only news related to cornerbacks and the Steelers. The Steelers have been doing lots of work on cornerbacks over the last few weeks on the Pro Day circuit. That continued Tuesday as they met with likely first-round cornerback, South Carolina’s Jaycee Horn.

“Yes, I just met with the Steelers today,” Horn said.

Horn, the son of former Saints and Falcons receiver Joe Horn, has a certain chirpiness and edge the Steelers are missing in their secondary. Horn credits his household in helping him really grow his swagger and the chip on his shoulder.

“My household was competitive,” Horn said. “Whether that sports, video games, whatever.”

However, Horn also notes the country he grew up in Georgia. The Atlanta area is known for producing lots of high-quality talent. In that respect, Horn also said that the iron sharpens iron mentality from the area also helped that area of his game grow exponentially.

“Even in park ball, they can ball real seriously,” Horn said. “The stars, they didn’t mean anything in Georgia. So, everywhere you go you had people at your neck competing.”

A long, fluid cornerback who played in a divers scheme at South Carolina, Horn was asked about his fit in the 49ers scheme, which is a heavy Cover 3 oriented scheme that mixes in single-high concepts. Since the Steelers do a lot of similar coverages, his answer to being comfortable in these schemes was a welcome one.

“We played a lot of man coverage, Cover 3, single-high at South Carolina,” Horn said. “I feel comfortable working in all of those coverages.”

Potentially a Top-20 pick, Horn would need to take a bit of a fall to reach the Steelers at 24. But meeting with him just shows the Steelers are leaving no stone unturned on the cornerback market. After Nelson’s release, expect the Steelers to address cornerback early in the draft.