I like Horn a little better because he has more experience playing. He made big strides in his technique from 2019 to 2020. Joseph really only has 1 year that he’s played and we have yet to see his big technique improvement… though that should come, just already in the NFL.
Physically speaking, there isn’t much separating the two, IMO. Horn is a little more physical and aggressive while Joseph just looked more smooth and athletic in coverage. Honestly, I think Joseph is a little physically superior of the two. He has near ideal corner athleticism.
So would I draft Joseph over Horn, straight up? No, I wouldn’t. Horn is very good physically and has already shown great improvement while it is a projection with Joseph. Also, Horn was never suspended from his team and then transferred. So some questions that are there for Joseph simply aren’t there for Horn.
You’d have to take Horn over Joseph at this point.
However, one of the things that people who didn’t like the Joseph pick say is that he quit on two teams. One of course, is LSU. After being suspended he transferred. The second they say is that near the end of Kentucky’s 2020 season Joseph opted out of the last game to get ready for the NFL. So, he quit on two teams.
Horn though did the same thing as the second one. He opted out of the last couple of South Carolina games in 2020 to focus on getting ready for the draft. If you knock Joseph for that, you got to knock Horn as well.
Overall physically though, I think that Joseph is a tad better. Quicker, smoother footwork, a little more speed and quickness, and better hands catching the ball.
As I mentioned above, Horn made a lot of progress between his 2019 and 2020 seasons. If Joseph makes the same progress technically between his first season at Kentucky and his second season in Dallas, then Joseph could absolutely be the better player of the two by the end of this season. His ceiling is a little higher and his current play has more growth room than Horn’s who is more polished.
I’ll tell you what I do know. If you give me these two scenarios, and ask me which I’d rather have:
1st - Parsons
2nd - Joseph
or
1sr - Horn
2nd - Bolton
I’d take Parsons/Joseph all day long over the other two. Joseph is waaay closer to Horn than Bolton is to Parsons, who is just a physical marvel.