Luke Kuechly might not be in the building anymore. His influence is still strong throughout the Panthers’ organization, though. The former linebacker and pro scout plans to spend his fall months fishing and hunting this year, offering him a chance to step away from football for a while.
At least Carolina has a much more sturdy footing at linebacker than in 2020 right after Kuechly’s sudden and shocking retirement. Bringing in Denzel Perryman in free agency should help. The continued development of Jermaine Carter will also be key, though. Carter says he learned a lot from Kuechly, per Darin Gantt at the team website.
“Some things Luke taught me, I’d watch TV copies of other teams, pick up the verbiage they were saying, and he taught me so much of that; how to break down film by situations instead of just watching the whole game, like first down one day, third down another. Little things like that I learned from Luke, and I think it helped me a lot last year. . . he’s going to be a Hall of Famer; he’s one of the best to ever play, so I definitely took advantage of it.”
Carter did an excellent job at Kuechly’s former middle linebacker spot last year after Tahir Whitehead was benched starting in Week 11. Carolina’s defense finished the season strong in no small part due to Carter’s efforts.
That said, heading into the 2021 campaign it’s unclear exactly what the new pecking order is. While Carter performed well and has earned praise from coach Matt Rhule, Perryman has a lot more experience and pretty much everyone is projecting he’ll be the team’s starting MLB come Week 1.
