CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeremy Chinn wanted to do something different during the offseason, so the fourth-year Carolina Panthers hybrid defender joined a Pilates class recommended by his trainer in Los Angeles.
“It was hard,’’ Chinn said. “But I was like, ‘This is something that is going to make me better,’ so I continued to do it. I can definitely feel the difference. A lot more flexibility.’’
Flexibility always has been Chinn’s strength -- not in the small muscles that Pilates improved, but in his ability to play multiple defensive positions.
It’s that flexibility that makes the 2020 second-round draft pick out of Southern Illinois arguably the most important player in a Carolina defense transitioning from a 4-3 base to a 3-4.