Tag: Luke Kuechly legacy

Luke Kuechly on retirement decision: ‘I gave it everything I had’

For his part, Kuechly doesn’t seem to have any second thoughts about not playing anymore.

Heading into the 2020 NFL draft, the Panthers have some rather large holes to fill on their roster. One of the biggest is in the middle of their defense, where Luke Kuechly played inside linebacker the last eight years at a level we have rarely seen in the NFL.

In January, Kuechly announced his retirement from the league, beginning an exodus of almost every defensive starter in Carolina from 2019. There are some tantalyzing prospects who could potentially replace him like Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons or Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray, but nobody will be able to live up to the high standard Kuechly set.

For his part, Kuechly doesn’t seem to have any second thoughts about not playing anymore. Speaking in an appearance on NBCSN, Kuechly told Mike Tirico that he knew it was time and he gave it everything he had.

“As the season concluded, I really kind of sat back and thought about it … I couldn’t have asked for a better situation (in Carolina), but once the season ended, I just knew that I had given it everthing I had. I was done at that point and it had nothing to do with changes in coaches or anything like that. I just think I knew in my heart that I gave it everything I had, and at this point, it was time to move in a different direction. You have to make hard decisions in your life and I think this is one of the harder ones I’ve had to make, but hopefully I can find a way to stay involved in football somehow.”

A few weeks after his retirement, there was talk of Kuechly potentially joining Matt Rhule’s staff, but he hasn’t been hired in any official capacity.

Kuechly walked away having played in 118 games, earning seven Pro Bowl nods, five All-Pros, a Defensive Rookie of the Year award and a Defensive Player of the Year. He was recently named to the NFL’s All-Decade team along with Julius Peppers and is a lock to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Luke Kuechly’s legacy is about more than just football

What will stick with me more than anything was how Kuechly managed to do it.

This one hurt. For any impartial observer, objective analyst or mere fan of football, the sudden retirement of Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly leaves the NFL a lesser place than it was before his exit.

Whether Kuechly or Bobby Wagner was actually the better middle linebacker will likely be debated for many years. There’s no questioning the impact that Kuechly made on the sport, though. For eight years, he played his position as well as anybody and in some ways he set a new standard for off-ball linebackers.

The numbers speak for themselves. Kuechly tallied over 1,000 combined tackles during his time in the league. 75 of them went for a loss. In addition to stout run defense, Kuechly was masterful in coverage. His ball skills could compare favorably even with some of the top defensive backs in the game. In the end, Kuechly posted 18 interceptions and 66 pass breakups. He had a nose for the ball, too. Kuechly forced seven fumbles and recovered nine of them. Throw in another 12.5 sacks and you’ll see why he will go down as one of the best defenders to ever do it.

Kuechly’s real legacy goes deeper than just the stats or the wins he helped the Panthers secure during his remarkable eight-year run. What we will remember most is how Kuechly managed to do it.

Athleticism helped make Kuechly into a great linebacker, but it was his dedication to film and preparation that made him a generational talent. Kuechly approached every opponent with a level of detail that matched some of the most committed competitors of our time. Like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, Kuechly elevated himself to an elite level of play by paying fanatical attention to the little things.

Watch Kuechly break down this clip of Giants running back Saquon Barkley as part of Amazon’s All or Nothing season featuring the Panthers.

Kuechly’s understanding of and passion for the game here is transparent. He genuinely loved this part of his job.

Sometimes, you could see that work ethic paying off in real time. Kuechly developed a habit of predicting what the offense was doing, calling out the play and shutting it down. Other all-time great linebackers like Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher were no slouches in this area and had their own unique qualities, but for my money Kuechly was better at this part of the game than anyone we’ve seen in the modern era.

Preparing for and playing the game the right way only begins to tell the story, though. By all accounts, Kuechly is a genuinely excellent person who has always treated everyone around him with respect and kindness. The outpouring of affection and respect that his teammates and rivals are showing on social media right now show what kind of man he is.

There’s a common thread in many of those tweets about No. 59: he was pure and true to himself. It’s an increasingly rare quality for a person to be genuine, but Kuechly’s authenticity has always shined through.

When we had a chance to interview Kuechly back in November of 2017, we asked about his legacy and his process. We also wanted to know more about the person, though. When we asked what he bought with his first NFL paycheck he answered that he always wanted a big comfortable couch, so that’s what he got. That’s the kind of thing that sticks with you.

Kuechly’s humility is extremely refreshing in an era when so many people (professional athletes and otherwise) get lost in their own hype. It may also be the primary quality that helped Kuechly excel at what he did.

Hopefully, his efforts will land him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame some day. If not, it will take exactly nothing away from what he’s accomplished. Congratulations to a one-of-a-kind individual on an exemplary career.

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