Jeremy Chinn scores touchdowns on back-to-back defensive plays

Jeremy Chinn scores back-to-back defensive TDs for the Carolina Panthers.

The Carolina Panthers invested heavily in the defensive side of the ball in the 2020 NFL Draft. One of their top picks, safety Jeremy Chinn, was a player they targeted in a trade-up at the bottom of the second round.

Chinn has carved out a very nice role for himself in the Carolina defense, playing 88 percent of the snaps and racking up 74 total tackles coming into Sunday’s matchup in Minneapolis, MN against the Vikings.

In the early third quarter of the Panthers’ game on Sunday against the Vikings, Chinn made two of the biggest plays of his young career.

With the Panthers down by a field goal, he picked up a Kirk Cousins fumble and returned it to the end zone for six points, scoring his first defensive touchdown in the NFL.

On the very next play from scrimmage for the Vikings, running back Dalvin Cook lost the ball this time and Chinn was once again the first man on the scene.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1333135955767660547

Not only is Chinn the first Panthers defensive player with multiple touchdowns in the same game in franchise history but he is also the first player in NFL history with 10 or more tackles and two defensive scores in the same game.

For Chinn, this enhances an already pretty strong candidacy for defensive rookie of the year. Since no player has really been head-and-shoulders above the rest for that recognition this year, a player like Chinn has as good of a chance as any.

Especially with a game like this on his resumé now.

Heading into the fourth quarter of this game, Chinn had 11 tackles, a QB hit, and the two defensive scores. He still has a chance to pad the stats even further against the Vikings, who are obviously struggling a bit to get things going offensively.