Luke Kuechly Joins Panthers as Pro Scout After Retiring from NFL at 28

Former Carolina Panthers linebacker and seven-time Pro Bowler Luke Kuechly will stick with the organization as a pro scout after retiring following the 2019 NFL season.  

Bill Voth of panthers.com caught up with Kuechly, who discussed the parameters of his new role.

"During the season, it'll be player evaluation and then advance scouting stuff. So if we play a team next week, we've got to get everything set up and ready to go, so when the coaches come in on Monday, they're not starting from square one," he said.

He provided more detail about what he'll be looking for on tape:

"You were always looking at schemes and tendencies and where you think a team is going to attack you on the defensive side of the ball.

"I think it'll be different in the sense that we're not necessarily looking for scheme as we are players. Are the players good? What's their skillset? What are they good at? What are they not good at?

"Say we're looking at a guy like Christian (McCaffrey). It's like, 'All right guys, he's really explosive, he's dangerous in the open field, he catches the ball extremely well out of the backfield, he's a matchup problem for linebackers.' I think it's going to be more like that."

Kuechly considered other options, including coaching and broadcasting, but the opportunity to stick with the Panthers in this capacity was too great to pass up:

"The biggest is thing is I still wanted to be involved with the team, around the game, and I wanted to be in the building because I still have a lot of people in the building that I'm friends with and I enjoy being around and I wasn't ready to quite give that up.

"I explored some other things, and they were all really cool opportunities. But I like being around the team, I like being around Charlotte, I like the guys upstairs (in the front office), and this will give me, I think, the closest thing I can get to playing."

Kuechly retired as a Panthers legend after helping lead the team to four playoff appearances and three NFC South titles in his eight seasons.

Drafted ninth overall out of Boston College in 2012, Kuechly made an immediate impact thanks to his NFL-leading 164 tackles. One year later, the five-time All-Pro helped engineer a team-wide turnaround that saw the Panthers go from 7-9 to 12-4 as NFC South champs in 2013.

Another division title ensued in 2014 before everything came together for Kueckly and the Panthers in 2015 when the team went 15-1 and reached Super Bowl 50, in which it lost to the Denver Broncos, 24-10. NFL MVP Cam Newton led an explosive offense, and Kuechly guided a stout defense that finished sixth in points allowed per game (19.3).

The Panthers have not won a playoff game since then, but Kuechly was still dominant and made the Pro Bowl from 2016-19 and the All-Pro team in 2017 and 2018. He had 144 tackles and a pair of interceptions to his name in 2019, but he called it a career at age 28 via a statement released by the team.

"I think now is the right chance for me to move on," Kuechly said (h/t Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz of USA Today).

He continued:

"It makes me sad because I love playing this game, I've played it since I was a kid. It's my favorite thing in the world to do. The memories I have from this place and this organization and being on the field with these guys – they'll never go away.

"In my heart I know it's the right thing to do… There's only one way to play this game since I was a little kid – play fast, play physical and play strong. And at this point I don't know if I am able to do that anymore."

Kuechly finished his career with 1,092 tackles, 18 interceptions and 12.5 sacks.