Jimmy Horn Jr. did not have an easy road to the NFL. He transferred from South Florida to Colorado, played under Deion Sanders, and eventually became a sixth-round pick. His father, Jimmy Horn Sr., was also in prison during much of that journey. Now, just over a year after Carolina drafted him, Horn is looking for another NFL home.
The Panthers waived Horn after their 59-37 loss to the Chicago Bears. Carolina made the move after Horn’s mistake on special teams became one of the moments that hurt the team in a disastrous afternoon. The news hit Colorado fans quickly.
Laura Levy, who has a close relationship with Sanders and has worked with the Buffaloes for years, reacted on X. “Nooooo!!! God, please let someone pick him up!” she wrote.
Horn is not technically out of the NFL yet. Carolina waived him, which means the other 31 teams can claim him off waivers. If nobody does, he can become a free agent and look for another opportunity. Still, the timing is rough. Horn played 14 offensive snaps against Chicago while receiving only one target. His bigger responsibility came on special teams. That’s why Laura’s plea matters.
He was handling returns when he muffed a punt in the second quarter. Chicago recovered the ball, and the Bears turned it into a field goal. Carolina eventually gave up 59 points and 552 yards. Horn Jr. was the roster move that came next.
In the NFL, young returners live on a thin wire, and one big mistake can end their stay real fast. When Horn dropped that punt with the game tied at 21-21, it handed Chicago easy points and broke Carolina’s momentum. For a Panthers team struggling on defense and desperate to free up a roster spot for linebacker Tyrel Dodson, a sixth-round pick who was kept primarily for special teams becomes instantly expendable.
We have seen this exact harsh reality before with fringe guys like Juwann Winfree, another former Colorado receiver who struggled to stick long-term in the league after bouncing around rosters on special teams. When you carry extra off-field weight, like growing up with an incarcerated parent, as players like Josh Jacobs also faced, the pressure to hold on to your spot is doubled, but the league rarely gives second chances to late-round picks.
It is a tough turn for a player Carolina took with the 208th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Panthers saw his speed and liked what he could bring on returns. He appeared in 13 games as a rookie, finishing with 11 catches for 108 yards and eight carries for 69 yards. In comparison, he was a star at Colorado.
Jimmy Horn Jr. arrived at Colorado in 2023 with something to prove. He had already shown what he could do at South Florida, but transferring to Deion Sanders’ new-look Buffaloes gave him a much bigger stage. It also put him in a program where his relationship with Sanders would become about more than football.
Horn had spent two seasons at USF before entering the transfer portal. As a sophomore, he caught 37 passes for 551 yards and three touchdowns and earned first-team All-AAC honors as a kick returner. Colorado became his next stop after he considered several Power Four options. He did not need long to make an impression in Boulder.
Horn opened the 2023 season, catching 11 passes for 117 yards and 1 touchdown against TCU. It remains one of the biggest receiving games in Colorado history. He finished that season with 58 catches for 567 yards and six touchdowns. The numbers tell only part of the story. Horn had a close relationship with Sanders, and that bond became especially visible because of what was happening with his father.
Jimmy Horn Sr. had been incarcerated on drug-related charges. By the time his son was playing at Colorado, the situation had already kept the two apart for years. Reports in 2025 said Horn Sr. had been moved to a prison in Colorado, bringing him closer to his son. That changed how Sanders viewed his role around Horn Jr.
Sanders was not Horn’s father, but he became someone Horn could lean on while his own father was unavailable. The relationship became public during Colorado’s 2024 Senior Day.
Horn had reached the final home game of his college career. His father could not walk onto Folsom Field with him for the ceremony. Horn asked Sanders to do it instead. Sanders agreed. The moment came before Colorado’s 52-0 win over Oklahoma State. Sanders walked alongside Horn during Senior Day, just as he did with his own sons, Shedeur and Shilo. Afterward, Sanders explained why he agreed to be there.
“Jimmy is like my kid; I love him that much,” Sanders said. For Horn Jr., football continued to move forward.
He returned for the 2024 season and remained an important part of Colorado’s offense. Against North Dakota State, he produced another huge game, catching seven passes for 198 yards and a touchdown. Colorado finished that game with 504 total yards in a 31-26 victory.
His senior season ended with 37 catches for 441 receiving yards and 1 touchdown. That year, he also battled through an injury late in the year. By the time the Alamo Bowl arrived, Sanders was still looking for ways to put Horn in position to improve his NFL chances. The NFL eventually came calling.