We’re 45 days away from the Carolina Panthers 2021 season opener, but there’s no player wearing No. 45 at the moment. To solve that issue, we’ve decided that today’s countdown piece will be devoted to one of the two players currently wearing No. 40 — safety Lano Hill.
(Ed. note: Like we’ve previously done, we decided to post about Hill today to avoid having to double post when No. 40 comes up on the countdown.)
Hill is a sixth-year player previously drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. He played his high school ball at Detroit powerhouse Cass Tech, where Hill and current Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis lead the school to the 2011 and 2012 Michigan High School Division 1 championships. Both players went on to play at Michigan, first under head coach Brady Hoke and then Jim Harbaugh.
Hill was a dependable part of Michigan’s defense, mostly under former defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. Over four years he contributed 119 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, three interceptions and eight pass breakups.
Following the 2016 season, Hill was named to the All-Big Ten defensive second-team. Months later, Hill and Lewis were then drafted within three picks of each other in the third round of the 2017 draft.
Pete Carroll and the Seahawks took Hill in the draft, but he played behind cemented starter Earl Thomas in his rookie year.
In both 2018 and 2019 Hill made contributions on defense and special teams, including 24 and 25 tackles, respectively. In both of those seasons Hill showed good versatility in Seattle. He played almost half of all special teams snaps and a third of defensive snaps in 2018. In 2019, Hill played more than a third of all special teams snaps and just over one-quarter of all defensive snaps.
Last season, his fourth with the Seahawks, he played just 90 defensive snaps because back spasms gave him trouble after week two. He didn’t play another game after going on injured reserve in October.
It’s not easy predicting how Hill will fare in Carolina. If he can shake the injury bug that seemed to bite him last season, Hill can be a valuable asset as a backup behind Juston Burris.