The Las Vegas Raiders' secondary suffered a blow when Tre'von Moehrig left for the Carolina Panthers in free agency.
The Raiders believe they helped cover that loss by importing versatile safety Jeremy Chinn.
"He's got such an amazing skill set for a man of his size," general manager John Spytek said of the 6-foot-3, 220-pound safety, via ESPN. "And you love the intelligence and the instincts that go with it."
Since being drafted in the second round by the Panthers in 2020, Chinn has been a movable chess piece in the secondary, able to line up as a linebacker, in the deep third as a free safety, or out to nickel corner.
In his lone season under Dan Quinn in Washington last year, Chinn was used all over the formation. Per Pro Football Focus, he lined up 470 times in the box as a linebacker, 369 snaps as a free safety, 222 as a slot cornerback, 106 along the defensive line and 40 at wide corner.
"He's like a big nickel," Spytek said. "You love his size on the edge, his ability to blitz [and] support the run. Then he's a guy that can still drop and play as part of the deep coverage, too."
Chinn said his versatility has been built over the first five years in the league.
"I think it started early on in my rookie season," Chinn said. "Just being in a situation where I was asked to do a lot of certain things and just kind of made my mindset like, this is the life of the NFL, like, there's going to be a lot of different roles, a lot of different roles, a lot of different responsibilities. So I just kind of took that and rode with it for the rest of my career."
The Raiders' revamped defense has an array of question marks, including a young corner crew. Chinn's ability to mix and match wherever defensive coordinator Patrick Graham needs aid will be a benefit for Vegas.
"I feel like I can affect the game in a lot of ways," Chinn said. "In this defense, it's allowing me to do that."