Thomas Davis keeps pounding

“Keep Pounding” was born in 2004, when former linebacker and then defensive assistant Sam Mills gave an impassioned speech in the Panthers’ locker room prior to a Wild Card round matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. Mills, fighting intestinal cancer at the time, implored and inspired the players to commit to one another and fight on in what would become the franchise’s current mantra. Sadly, Mills lost his battle and passed away soon after in 2005. His words and his legacy, however, lived on.

No Panther since has embodied that rallying cry more than Thomas Davis. Davis, who has spent 14 of his 15 professional years in Carolina. What stands out is how Davis came back after tearing the ACL in his right knee on three separate occasions. Refusing to give up despite his devastating circumstances, Davis fought back and returned. Not only did he become the first player in league history to return from such a string of injuries, but he returned even better than he was before.

Davis played in 105 of the team’s 112 games from 2012 to his last season with the Panthers in 2018. He recorded at least 100 tackles in the first five of those years.

Davis went on to earn a First-Team All-Pro selection in 2015, a Second-Team All-Pro selection in 2013 and three Pro Bowl nods in his final three years there. More significantly, his crowing moment would come for his incredible work off the field, when he received the 2014 Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

Introduced in 2012, the “Keep Pounding” drum is now a tradition like none other in the sport. It’d only be fitting that Davis join a fellow linebacker in Mills as a statue outside of Bank of America Stadium, banging that drum which bears and honors that inspiring sentiment.