As Luke Kuechly awaits Hall of Fame knock, teammates recall Canton-worthy player, person

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Luke Kuechly had just finished a quick Q&A in a media tent outside the NFL Honors ceremony in New Orleans when he noticed a Charlotte reporter waiting to congratulate him.

Kuechly was curious whether the reporter had made the trip because hed been tipped off that Kuechly was going to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

But there had been no heads-up that Kuechly was going home with the hardware, just the sense that the Carolina Panthers first-round pick from Boston College was the clear favorite after leading the league in tackles in his first season.

Advertisement A dozen years later, with the Super Bowl and NFL Honors returning to New Orleans, Kuechly find himself in a similar position as a deserving finalist this time for footballs greatest honor.

As he racked up All-Pro selections, Pro Bowl berths and 100-tackle seasons, its never been a question of if Kuechly was going to the Hall of Fame but when.

Now five years after tearfully announcing his retirement at the age of 28, the former Panthers linebacker has a chance to make it to Canton in his first year on the ballot.

If that happens, Kuechly would follow Julius Peppers into the Hall a year after the Panthers great was elected in his first year of eligibility.

Like Kuechly, Peppers won the Defensive Rookie of the Year and would go on to play in a Super Bowl for the Panthers early in his career.

The difference is that while Peppers played 17 seasons, Kuechlys career spanned eight seasons before he retired after the 2019 season following a series of concussions and other health concerns.

Along with Steve Smith, Kuechly is one of two Panthers legends among this years finalists.

(Jared Allen, an in-season acquisition during the Panthers 2015 Super Bowl season, also is hoping to get the knock on his door in the coming days.) Smith, a first-time finalist in his fourth year on the ballot, faces a bit of a logjam at the receiver position, with Torry Holt and Reggie Wayne also up for enshrinement.

Kuechlys lack of longevity is the only perceived knock on his Hall of Fame candidacy, and would likely be what would keep him from walking across the stage at New Orleans Saenger Theatre as part of the class of 2025.

But Kuechly was the NFLs best inside linebacker for most, if not all, of those eight seasons.

After breaking the Panthers single-season record for tackles as a rookie, Kuechly was the NFLs Defensive Player of the Year in 2013.

He joined New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor as the only players in NFL history to win Defensive Rookie and Defensive Player honors in consecutive years.

Kuechly tied the NFL single-game record with 24 tackles in a 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints on Dec.

22, 2013.

The Panthers gave him 26 stops based on the coaches film review.

Either way, it was a lot.

Kuechly, a member of the NFLs all-decade team for the 2010s, led the league in tackles again in 2014 and surpassed 100 tackles every year he played.

He finished with 18 interceptions, made the Pro Bowl his last seven seasons and was a five-time, first-team All-Pro.

Advertisement Panthers longtime left tackle Jordan Gross had the idea early on that Kuechly was going to be a special player.

At the teams FanFest at Bank of America Stadium during the 2012 training camp, Kuechly lined up opposite Gross and showed blitz, which didnt exactly strike fear in the Pro Bowl tackle.

Usually a rookie linebacker would blitz and then hed try to do some sucky move and youd lock him out, Gross said.

Well, Luke does his little rip like hes gonna run the corner.

And I got my hands on him and Im like, Here you go, thisll be an easy play.

And I remember he sat and spun out of it, like an edge rusher would.

Cam Newton released the ball before Kuechly reached him, and no coaches mentioned the play to Gross when the team reviewed the practice tape.

But it left an impression on Gross.

I sure remember thinking, Whoa, Gross said.

It sounds like such a little thing.

But for a linebacker to be that developed and/or have that wherewithal as a rookie that turned my head.

GO DEEPER How the Panthers were sold Luke Kuechly was their guy in 2012 Kuechly would continue to turn heads throughout his career.

Opponents would marvel at Kuechlys ability to sniff out offensive plays before they were run a product of Kuechlys legendary film study.

If Cam was the Panthers Superman during the teams run of three consecutive playoff berths from 2013-15, Kuechly was Clark Kent a guy who in street clothes looked more like an accountant than a middle linebacker.

Luke had a good physique, but he wasnt super intimidating looking, Gross said.

He had that curly mop, so youre kind of going like, Who is (this)? But Kuechlys boy-next-door persona belied his intensity and athleticism.

In a Thanksgiving Day game at Dallas in 2015, Kuechly intercepted Tony Romo on back-to-back plays, returning the first one 32 yards for a touchdown in a 33-14 win that announced to a national TV audience that the Panthers had arrived.

Advertisement Moments like that one are why teammates like Gross and Greg Olsen are convinced Kuechly is a no-doubt Hall of Famer , whether it happens next week or next year.

Both also are confident that Smith is destined for Canton.

Among the 15 finalists, Kuechly is one of five who advanced to this point in their first year of eligibility.

The others are quarterback Eli Manning, kicker Adam Vinatieri, defensive end Terrell Suggs and offensive lineman Marshal Yanda.

Manning, who spent his entire 16-year career with the New York Giants, is a two-time Super Bowl MVP who twice took down Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

He is part of arguably footballs most famous family.

But neither Manning nor the other first-ballot finalists should be considered shoo-ins based on the findings of Hall of Fame voter Jason Cole, who has been polling current or former players, coaches and executives about the modern-era finalists for the past 12 years.

Over that span, every candidate who has gotten in on the first ballot has received at least 50 percent of the votes in Coles surveys, he wrote on The 33rd Team .

None of the first-timers reached that threshold this year when Vinatieri was given the nod by 46.5 percent of the 419 voters, followed by Kuechly (46.3) and Manning (44.4).

The best Hall of Fame comp for Kuechly is ex-San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis, who played the same number of years as Kuechly, finished with the same number of Pro Bowl berths, was the Defensive Rookie of the Year (in 2007) and a member of the 2010s All-Decade team.

Willis, who never won Defensive Player of the Year, made it to Canton in 2024 in his third year of eligibility.

Former Panthers safety Colin Jones, who played for Carolina and San Francisco, said Kuechly and Willis had comparable careers.

But Jones gave the edge to Kuechly, his hunting and fishing buddy, in terms of his on-field performance.

He also marveled at how Kuechly, a member of the Panthers radio broadcast team, has always been Hall of Fame-worthy as a person.

Advertisement It was so impressive to see ...

the way he prepared during his football career (in the) offseason (and) in-season.

But (also) the way he treated people totem pole to the top, Jones said.

Couldnt be more proud of somebody to just see that whole journey, and thankful to call him a really good friend.

Gross likened Kuechly to Barry Sanders and Tony Boselli, who turned in Hall of Fame careers while playing 10 and seven seasons, respectively.

(Kuechly) was so good, he couldve hung around and just not played and taken money.

He did the right thing, Gross said.

I played 11 years.

Maybe I should have played 13.

You can always look back.

I just am sure proud of how he did everything.

(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images).

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