‘Leadership will emerge’
No matter who wins the cornerback battle, it’s going to be a young defender filling a critical role for what will be the youngest NFL defense to play in a decade. With so many veterans like Luke Kuechly gone, somebody’s going to have to step up and lead them.
Rhule says Kuechly is a generational talent. However, he’s also sure that leadership will emerge.
Matt Rhule on how players can replace Luke Kuechly: "Luke is a generational talent, so I've told all of our guys on defense to just focus on themselves…As we good at doing our job, I'm sure leadership will emerge. We just have to make sure we're playing our defense…"
— Jonathan M Alexander (@jonmalexander) August 24, 2020
Kuechly’s replacement at middle linebacker is Tahir Whitehead. His previous experience with Rhule in college plus 125 games in the NFL should be valuable for the up-and-comers on this side of the ball.
It’s going to take more than one veteran to fill that void, though.