CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carolina Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer was in his first season as the director of college scouting at Seattle in 2011 when the Seahawks' secondary that became the “Legion of Boom’’ began to take shape.

Monday’s trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for cornerback CJ Henderson has a similar feel.

Short-term, the trade shows the Panthers (3-0) are in a win-now mode as they try to replace 2021 first-round pick Jaycee Horn, who is likely out for the season with a broken foot suffered in Thursday’s win at Houston.

Henderson (6-foot-1, 205 pounds), the ninth pick of the 2020 draft, has a similar size and skill set to Horn (6-foot-1, 200).

So he should be able fill Horn’s role in terms of being able to man-up some of the league’s top receivers as the Panthers will see Sunday at the Dallas Cowboys.

Horn was a key piece in the defense’s quick ascension to No. 1 in the NFL. His rare blend of size and quickness allowed defensive coordinator Phil Snow to utilize his front seven in multiple ways he couldn’t last season in terms of pressuring the quarterback.

Carolina currently has a league-best 14 sacks.

If Henderson fills that role, the Panthers have a chance to build on their early success.

Long-term, the Panthers could have three young corners in Henderson (22), Horn (21) and Donte Jackson, who they will try to re-sign. Put them with safety Jeremy Chinn, 23, who was a strong candidate for 2020 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and you can almost visualize Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell, Brandon Browner, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.

That group helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl in 2013 and go back in 2014, losing to the New England Patriots.

“It’s not a short-term thing,’’ Carolina coach Matt Rhule said of the Henderson trade. “It’s a long-term thing.’’

But short-term, the move shows the Panthers believe they can be a playoff team now.

Maybe a team that can go deep into the playoffs.

They’re actually ahead of the Seahawks in one area: Seattle didn’t become a consistent winner until it got its franchise quarterback, Russell Wilson, in 2012.

The Panthers may already have theirs in Sam Darnold. Fitterer got Darnold, the third pick of the 2018 draft by the New York Jets, in an offseason trade that cost him a sixth-round pick in 2021, as well as a second- and fourth-round pick in 2022.

The move was made because he and Rhule believed they could salvage the career of a player they loved when he played at Southern Cal. So far, Darnold ranks sixth in ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating (66.8) after ranking last (41.4) among qualified quarterbacks the past three years.

Rhule sees the same kind of promise in Henderson, who has yet to reach expectations.

“This isn’t a Band-Aid,’’ Rhule said. “This is an opportunity.’’

This season is an opportunity for the Panthers. That’s why they aggressively went after Henderson after testing the waters on Sherman, who at 33, remains unsigned.

They know in order to have a chance at improving to 4-0 against the Cowboys, they needed another elite corner, whether playing wide or at nickel, to combine with Jackson and match up with receivers CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper.

They knew to seriously compete for the NFC South title, they needed another elite corner for late-season games with the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay and its trio of receivers, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown.

Henderson potentially can do that.

Carolina was so high on the former Florida star that it considered using the No. 7 pick on him in 2020 instead of Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown.

Trading for him now was a no-brainer.

“CJ Henderson is somebody we liked a long time,’’ Rhule said. “Any chance you have to get a top-15 draft pick from the year before, it’s very unique.’’

The move cost Carolina tight end Dan Arnold, who was undrafted in 2017, and a 2022 third-round pick. Of the 12 deals Fitterer has made since being hired in January, this one could be the best outside of acquiring Darnold.

No, the team didn’t want to give up Arnold. But in terms of the tight end position, the future really is in Tommy Tremble, a 2021 third-round pick out of Notre Dame -- not Dan Arnold.

You got a glimpse of Tremble’s potential on Thursday, when he had a touchdown run on an end-around, and later, when he made a 30-yard catch. Rhule recently said Tremble was the 2021 version of Chinn because of his ability to impact the game at several spots.

Tremble’s 7-yard touchdown run against Houston actually set an NFL record, making him, at 21, the youngest tight end to run for a touchdown. The previous record was held by future Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski.

The trade also makes cap sense, particularly long-term. The Panthers inherited Henderson’s rookie deal that will cost them $1.285 million in 2021, $2.475 million in 2022 and $3.407 million in 2023.

They then can pick up his fifth-year option, which still will be a deal, considering the top 10 corners this year are being paid from $13.5 million to $21 million.

Horn’s rookie-deal contract also is cap friendly, going from $3,838,572 this season to $6,717,501 in 2024. If the Panthers re-sign Jackson, a second-round pick in 2018, they’ll have three young corners for several years at a reasonable price.

Again, that’s similar to how the Seahawks began building the “Legion of Boom’’ in 2011. They drafted Sherman in the fifth round, Maxwell in the sixth and signed Browner as a free agent to mix with 2010 draft picks Thomas and Chancellor at safety.

“This is not a right-now, this-week conversation,’’ Rhule said. “This is about the next two years, three years. On defense, as you can see, when you have a bunch of good players, it's fun to watch. So just hopefully he's one more guy in that group.’’