Carolina Panthers great Luke Kuechly racked up a ton of tackles during his illustrious eight-year career—1,092 to be exact. But which of those were the most difficult to get?
The 2012 Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, seven-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler added “in-studio analyst” to his lengthy football résumé on Monday. Kuechly joined the set of ESPN’s NFL Live to talk offseason shop—a visit that also featured “Luke’s List” of the five toughest players to tackle.
So, can you guess who Kuechly named . . . ?
From No. 5 to No. 2—he went with Cleveland’s Nick Chubb, Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor, Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, then New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara. And, at No. 1, is someone that’s probably at the top of a bunch of these kinds of lists.
“The last guy’s one of my favorite guys I ever played against—Marshawn Lynch,” Kuechly said. “He’s got the full package. Big, strong, physical. But his running style is relentless. I always tell everybody—when we played Marshawn, the most important thing for us was to get bodies around him.”
Kuechly played Lynch a lot, too. The two saw each other six times from 2012 to 2015, including in a pair of postseason matchups that the Panthers and Seattle Seahawks split.
That’s a lot of action, boss.
