CHARLOTTE — When head coach Dave Canales walked in last season, he knew Jaycee Horn by reputation and by what was on the back of the football card.

There's the talent which has been evident since Horn was chosen eighth overall in the 2021 draft. But there was also the question about availability, as injuries haunted him his first three seasons.

But what Canales saw last season convinced him that not only was Horn a player he wanted to keep, but a player he wanted to lead this team moving forward. That's why the Panthers extended Horn on Monday, giving him a new four-year contract extension that keeps him here through the 2029 season.

"I saw a guy that was just so focused on helping the team, on being out there, on making sure that his body was right," Canales said. "I wasn't around Jaycee before, but what I saw was just this professionalism, this way that he went about his week, his body readiness, his mental preparation, his film study, and all those habits.

"I just saw him give us something so solid and stable for other guys to see. This is how you achieve excellence, and I love the fact that he was recognized for it with the Pro Bowl and all that. But I thought that was inevitable if he could just be out there. But he brought that to us, so I thought that was really important for Jaycee to be somebody that people could look at."

A series of unrelated injuries limited Horn to 22 games in his first three seasons, but he came into last season with a resolve to first be available. The recognition that followed was just an extension of that, but Horn knew he had to prove it.

"I mean, it's kind of like a weird feeling because I know my teammates respect me, and I got respect in the locker room," Horn said in January. "But also like being out every year in and out, it didn't really feel like my place to speak up all the time even though I may be right. But I just feel like I need to do more and show them that I can be available and let them see me make big-time plays before I just try to run around trying to lead everybody and tell everybody what to do.

"It's just going out there and earning the respect of your teammates, so I've been, I was really focused on doing that this year, and maybe next year just try to take a bigger step in leading."

Defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley, the assistant who works most closely with Horn, saw it on a daily basis. And he said he could tell what kind of day it was going to be by seeing the way Horn attacked the earliest parts of practice, long before they lined up for team drills.

"You notice it more mostly in like individual drills and the way he goes about his work," Cooley said. "Like his conditioning is so much better than it was a year ago. Coming into it, he's changed his body a little bit, his stamina is excellent, and then he's just willing to work every single day. He's just being comfortable, and you just see he tries to push himself to see what his body can do.

"His physical traits make him such an all-around player because he's big, he can run, he can tackle, and he's one of the best tackling corners in the league. That's the thing: the guy that has his type of ball production doesn't necessarily have the same thing versus the run game. But he's got 2.0 sacks this year, so I think he's just such an all-around package because of his size, ability, and smarts. That's the separator because he can take advantage of his body type."

Cooley was with the Rams when Horn was coming out in the 2021 draft — coaching one of the best in the game in Jalen Ramsey — and there were times he wondered if he was looking at the right tape when he was looking at the South Carolina star.

"I saw him playing in the dime position, and I'm like, this guy is very physical. Is he a safety?" Cooley said with a laugh. "Then he goes out and runs real fast, and I'm like, no, no, no. He's got some of those traits where he could be a safety later on in his career if he wanted to. But I think that's where him and Jalen (Ramsey) are similar because they're big, they're physical, but they've got the movement to play on the outside. But then you can blitz them, and they can tackle, and people don't like running at them."

With that ability comes a higher threshold for wanting to make plays. But instead of getting frustrated when opponents don't throw — or run — at him, Horn worked to expand his game.

And it reminded Cooley of watching that college tape and imagining what Horn was capable of down the line.

"He had a little stretch where he didn't get any action so he tries to find action," Cooley said. "It's like tackling, to stay involved, but you know they're always ready to get bored. But he can do it all. . . .

"He checks all the boxes; it's speed, it's want to, he's checked every one of those. Sometimes when you're looking at guys in the draft, it's which one do you like better, that kind of thing. But with Jaycee, when you watch him work, it's like the other guy better be really good because that guy wants it every day."