NEW ORLEANS — The Drew Brees of three decades ago was disinclined to indulge fantasies of becoming a pro football star, believing instead that baseball was the sport he would play in college.
“Look, I was 6-foot, 170 pounds,” the New Orleans Saints’ career passing leader said in an interview with The Associated Press, recalling his days at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. “I wasn’t really the prototype of anything in football.”
Although he’d grown up on gridirons as the grandson of an admired Texas high school football coach and won a state championship as Westlake’s quarterback, Brees wasn’t heavily recruited by prominent college football programs in his home state.
This weekend, the 47-year-old Brees enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where his bronze bust will effectively become Exhibit A for the triumph of intangibles over measurables.
Whatever Brees lacked in physical stature, he made up for with discipline, intellect, perseverance, instincts and leadership during a 20-year NFL career highlighted by the second-most yards (80,358) and touchdowns (571) passing in league history – not to mention New Orleans’ only Super Bowl title in the Saints’ six decades of existence.
Sean Payton, who coached Brees in New Orleans and now is with Denver, marveled at Brees’ ability to process information quickly, make adjustments at the line of scrimmage and execute.
“He was like A.I.,” said Payton, whom Brees selected as his presenter in Canton. “That ability to process fast – like, elite fast – is a really rare gift. He could just multitask comfortably.”
Brees also worked obsessively on throwing mechanics – even hiring a personal throwing coach – and it showed in his accuracy and timing. He completed 67.7% of his passes, ranking third all-time – first among QBs with more than six NFL seasons. His single-season completion rates of 74.4% in 2018 and 74.3% in 2019 are the top two in NFL history.
Living by a maxim that equated failure with opportunity, Brees exhibited a knack for turning tribulation into triumph. His 53 game-winning drives rank third (tied with Ben Roethlisberger) and behind just Tom Brady (58) and Peyton Manning (54).
Brees retired after the 2020 season. Several years before that, players, coaches and executives around the NFL were already referring to him as a Hall of Famer.
“We all just expected he was going to go in in five years – first ballot, no questions asked,” said Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, whose tenure in New Orleans spanned all of Brees’ 15 seasons with the club. “It’s not a surprise.”
The symmetry of Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans being the place where Brees bounced back from a career-threatening injury to his throwing shoulder provided yet another layer to the quarterback’s story.
“How I ended up in New Orleans was just such an unlikely scenario,” Brees recalled. “And yet, it could not have been more perfect.”
The pinnacle was Brees’ Super Bowl MVP performance against Indianapolis in February 2010 in Miami, marked by his second-half passing numbers of 19 completions on 20 attempts for 151 yards and two TDs. The postgame image of Brees holding his then-1-year-old first child, Baylen, as both grasped at fluttering confetti, is iconic in New Orleans.
Back in the Big Easy, that victory ignited cathartic, rapturous celebrations and set the stage for a victory parade as wild and well-attended as any held during Mardi Gras.
The Saints made the playoffs in nine of Brees’ 15 seasons in New Orleans. Since then, the club has gone 36-49 under three coaches without a postseason appearance.
Brees as an all-around athlete
Brees credits his athletic success to a childhood spent pursuing numerous sports, including baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis and cross country.
By high school, Brees saw himself as a potential prospect at shortstop or third base who could hit for average and power from the left side. The athlete he most admired was Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams, the inspiration behind Brees wearing the No. 9 throughout his NFL career.
When Brees tore knee ligaments during a high school football playoff game his junior season, he worried most about how missing baseball the following spring might jeopardize his scholarship prospects.
Baseball “is what I was hoping would be my path,” Brees recalled, adding that he was not bitter about not receiving football scholarship offers from Texas, where his uncle, Marty Akins, played quarterback, or Texas A&M, where his parents went to college.
None of the major football programs in Texas offered him one.
“I get it,” Brees said. “We won a state championship. I was 5A State Offensive Player of the Year. But, I didn’t have a lot of the measurables.”
But Brees got an offer from then-Purdue coach Joe Tiller, who ran a pass-heavy spread offense. Intrigued, Brees accepted, moving about 1,100 miles from home to continue playing football.
Showing his ability in college
Playing at Purdue transformed Brees into a bona fide NFL prospect.
“Had I gone to Texas, I would’ve handed the ball off to Ricky Williams; if I’d gone to A&M, I would’ve handed off to Dante Hall,” Brees said. “I go to Purdue and I’m throwing the ball 50 times a game.”
In 2000, Brees led Purdue to just its second Rose Bowl and first in 34 years. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist and chosen Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year for a second time.
A tough adjustment in the pros
After his selection at the top of the second round of the 2001 draft by the then-San Diego Chargers, Brees appeared in one game as a rookie.
He was benched three times in 2003, when he went 2-9 and had more interceptions (15) than touchdown passes (11).
That offseason, then-Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer told Brees that he still believed in him, but warned that the organization planned to use its top overall draft pick in 2004 on a QB.
“Everything that I thought I knew, I reevaluated, and also my leadership skills and assertiveness,” Brees said. “So, I came back just on fire.”
The Chargers acquired Philip Rivers in a memorable draft-day trade involving Eli Manning, but Brees won back the starting job, going 11-4, leading the Chargers to the playoffs, and garnering the first of his 13 Pro Bowl nods.
Statistically, 2005 was another strong campaign for Brees, but the Chargers missed the playoffs at 9-7 and Brees’ throwing shoulder was heavily damaged (torn labrum and partially torn rotator cuff) by an awkward hit during a scramble for a fumble.
Brees was due to become a free agent, and the Chargers didn’t try to keep him.
Brees is reborn in New Orleans
At the time Brees signed with New Orleans in March 2006, his recovery from surgery in January had not yet progressed to where he could throw effectively.
He needed a team to take a leap of faith.
Miami had considered him, but balked. Payton, then a first-year NFL coach, and the Saints, who had gone 3-13 while displaced to San Antonio in 2005, never wavered – and Brees was determined to make them right.
His approach became contagious.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara, who played with Brees during the QB’s final four seasons, said Brees “treated every situation in practice, in the game, and in the film room, like it was the last moment … the determining factor between winning and losing.”
“That bled throughout the whole team,” Kamara added.
Payton also encouraged Brees to explore the bounds of what he could do in a game.
He offered Brees the opportunity to call out protections from the line of scrimmage – something centers tend to do. Payton also let Brees call plays on the field when the Saints ran a no-huddle.
“He empowered me so much,” Brees said. “It made me that much more confident. And certainly I had that driving motivation to prove him right and to represent him.”
During the 2007 preseason – before Saints greats Ricky Jackson, Willie Roaf or Morten Anderson had been enshrined in Canton – the Saints played in the Hall of Fame game.
Payton toured the hall with players and asked them if they noticed not a single Saint was represented. The coach then predicted that a player, perhaps several, from that 2007 squad would return to Canton as an inductee one day.
When Payton helps Brees on with his gold Hall of Fame jacket this weekend, the most accomplished player in Saints history will have made his old coach right one more time.
FITZGERALD AN ICON OF PASS-CATCHING EXCELLENCE
Larry Fitzgerald came to the Arizona Cardinals as a 20-year-old intent on becoming an NFL superstar.
First, he had to learn how to do some laundry.
As Fitzgerald – one of the greatest and most productive receivers in league history – prepares to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio, his favorite memories of the only team he played for during a stellar 17-year career aren’t always about the team’s unlikely run to the Super Bowl during the 2008 season, the playoff wins or the individual highlights.
Instead, he remembers folding clothes with a couple of Cardinals equipment guys named Mark Ahlemeier and Steve Christensen, learning how to become a grown man who can wash his own underwear.
It wasn’t glamorous for the No. 3 overall pick in 2004 out of Pitt, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It was on those big industrial washers and dryers in the back,” Fitzgerald said. “My mom washed my clothes when I got to college, then my girlfriend did it for me. I had to figure it out when I got to Arizona and those guys helped me in a big way.
“Those are the things that make you look back and be appreciative and thankful – that they would do that for you. Because they didn’t have to do that.”
Fitzgerald, Cardinals form unbreakable bond
Fitzgerald’s fondness for the Cardinals – and vice versa – would never waver during a career that featured plenty of personal success, but up-and-down team success. The pinnacle came in the 2008 postseason, when he was dominant during a four-game playoff run that included 30 catches for 546 yards and seven touchdowns.
The 546 yards receiving are still an NFL record for the most in a single postseason.
It culminated with 127 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches in the Super Bowl – including a go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter – though the Pittsburgh Steelers would eventually rally past the Cardinals for a 27-23 win on Feb. 1, 2009.
“It’s truly a blessing to come in at 20 years old and stay with the same organization for their entire career,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s a two-way street. Ownership has to want you to be there, and you have to want to be there as well.”
At a rock solid 6-3 and 218 pounds, Fitzgerald used his size and speed to total 17,492 career yards receiving, which ranks second in NFL history behind Jerry Rice. His 1,432 career catches are also second all time while his 121 receiving TDs rank sixth. He was an 11-time Pro Bowl selection and made All-Pro in 2008.
Even more impressive – he had all that production even though the Cardinals didn’t always have star quarterbacks.
Fellow Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer certainly qualify as high-level QBs, but there were a total of 22 quarterbacks over 17 years who completed at least one pass to Fitzgerald, including journeymen like John Navarre, Brian St. Pierre, Max Hall, Richard Bartel, Ryan Lindley and Brett Hundley.
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill has a favorite stat of Fitzgerald’s that is almost hard to believe: He had more career tackles (41) than dropped passes (29).
“That’s an incredible statistic and it’s unimaginable,” Bidwill said. “The professionalism, the attention to detail of his craft and how he never stopped working. He was always the first player at practice and the last guy off the field. I’d say to every rookie, everyone who didn’t feel like they needed to practice harder – ‘Look at our best player. There’s a reason he’s our best player.’”
Beloved in Arizona
The Bidwills – who have owned the Cardinals for nearly a century – have a relationship with Fitzgerald that goes beyond most owner/player partnerships.
One of Michael Bidwill’s favorite memories is from back when his dad, Bill, was still alive and ran the franchise. In 2016, Fitzgerald came over to Bidwill’s house after practice to spend Thanksgiving with Bill, who had lost his wife to cancer just a few months before.
“He knew that was the first major holiday that my dad didn’t have my mom there,” Michael Bidwill said. “It meant so much to him.”
After he got done at the Bidwills’, he spent some time at a soup kitchen serving meals before heading to a local children’s hospital to tell a few kids goodnight. All after a grueling two-hour practice before a big game.
Bidwill said he knows that story sounds almost too good to be true, but it’s just how Fitzgerald operated.
Fitzgerald – when asked about the story – shrugged it off as something he was happy to do.
“So many people are struggling and going through difficult times,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it’s good to be aware of all that. I wanted to make sure that the people who turn the TVs on every single week, supporting us, for them to feel that same level of support from me and my family.”
A quiet goodbye
Fitzgerald played his final season during 2020, which was played in front of either no fans or sparse crowds because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Always a humble superstar, he never announced he was retiring, instead just quietly ending a career that is one of the best for a receiver in NFL history.
Six years later, he’ll take his place among the league’s all-time greats in Canton. It’s been a bittersweet summer for Fitzgerald, whose father Larry Fitzgerald Sr. died on June 1 at 71. The elder Fitzgerald was a longtime sports writer in Minnesota and his profession was one reason his son was so comfortable around the journalists who covered him in Arizona.
This weekend will be a celebration of Fitzgerald’s on-the-field greatness, and also a salute to a man who became synonymous with the Cardinals and loved every minute of it.
“It’s not always the great moments – the Super Bowls and playoff games,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s the conversations you have at lunch with guys. Seeing teammates get married and have kids and their families grow. Guys getting new contracts. Guys going from practice squad, to being free agents, to being starters, seeing the maturation and the process.
“Those are the parts of the game you really miss.”
CRAIG’S VERSATILITY HELPED FUEL 49ERS’ DYNASTY
The San Francisco 49ers’ dynasty had launched even before Roger Craig arrived in 1983 as a fullback out of Nebraska.
Craig’s versatility as a runner, receiver and blocker helped elevate Bill Walsh’s offense to an even higher level as a perfect fit in a trendsetting scheme.
“Roger was a pioneer,” former 49ers quarterback Steve Young said. “Our offense allowed for new things to happen, and it demanded running backs who could catch the football, and run routes, and be dynamic and still line up in the eye and go downhill off tackle. It asked more of anyone and Roger answered that. He could do all the things that Earl Campbell could do, but all this other stuff that was now being asked. Now that you look at the game today, Roger was the first one to do that.”
Craig’s success in the offense led to him becoming the first player ever to reach 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season, helped San Francisco win three more Super Bowl titles and eventually made him a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Craig will be inducted into the Hall on Saturday after being chosen from the seniors category after being passed over for years as higher profile 49ers players like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Young got the accolades. Craig declined to be interviewed for this story but his former teammates had plenty to say.
“He was an amazing football player that I think was grossly underappreciated how good he was,” longtime guard Randy Cross said. “Part of that’s being that he came into the league as a fullback at Nebraska for Mike Rozier. Then he comes to us and he’s basically a fullback with Wendell Tyler. But Bill had all the faith in the world in what he can do with him and Roger changed the running back position.”
Craig made immediate impact on 49ers
Craig’s impact on the 49ers was immediate as he showed off skills he was never asked to use in college when he caught just 16 passes in four seasons playing in Nebraska’s triple-option offense.
Craig entered the NFL in an era when running backs weren’t typically major parts of the passing offense. But he bucked that trend and quickly became one of the best receiving backs in the league.
He scored 12 TDs as a rookie and then had 1,324 yards from scrimmage and 10 more TDs in 1984 when he helped San Francisco win its second title as he became the first player ever to score three TDs in a Super Bowl.
He established the 1,000-1,000 club in 1985 that has only been reached by two other backs – Marshall Faulk in 1999 and Christian McCaffrey in 2019 – and was a first-team All-Pro in 1988 when he rushed for 1,502 yards.
“I think about him as a pioneer and someone who set the standard for guys like myself,” McCaffrey said. “He showed someone could maybe not be a 245-pound back but be able to make a living playing football because of the work that he put in and being able to do everything – run the ball hard between the tackles, outside the tackles, catch the ball.”
Craig established work ethic standard
Craig’s influence went beyond his stellar play on the field. He helped establish the standard that made the 49ers the model franchise in the NFL in the 1980s and ’90s. Craig started the tradition that Jerry Rice extended of running what was simply known as “The Hill” in a Bay Area park as part of his offseason training.
He carried that work ethic over to the season when he would run to the goal line after almost every carry in practice, inspiring teammates along the way.
“I know Jerry gets talked about in his offseason routine, but it started with Roger. Roger was the guy,” longtime linebacker Keena Turner said. “He was unmatched in the way he prepared, he was unmatched in the way he played, the dual threat that he was on the field, the human being that he was as a teammate. I can’t say enough about him and how he inspired me, the way he played, watching him. He was all in every single day.”
Craig finished his career with 13,100 yards from scrimmage and 73 touchdowns in the regular season. His 410 yards from scrimmage in his Super Bowls – all wins – are the third-most ever behind Hall of Famers Rice and Franco Harris.
But he also had a postseason blunder in his final game with the 49ers, when he fumbled late in the 1990 NFC title game with San Francisco protecting a 13-12 lead against the New York Giants.
New York turned that fumble into a game-winning field goal that denied the 49ers a chance at a three-peat but doesn’t overshadow Craig’s contributions and how he is remembered.
“High knee action, how he would punish the defender,” Rice remembered. “Just overall, just a fantastic teammate that laid everything out there on the football field.”
CLUTCH KICKER VINATIERI GETS HIS DUE
When Tom Brady thinks of clutch NFL players, the man considered by most to be the greatest quarterback to play the game begins his list with Adam Vinatieri.
“When you look up clutch in the dictionary, it should have your picture,” the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback wrote in a 2021 Instagram post wishing the 24-year veteran a happy retirement. “Honored to have played with the (greatest of all-time).”
Five years later, the kicker whose four Super Bowl rings rank as the most in league history at his position will take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Just to say you did it a long time and you did a pretty good job and you got to put an exclamation on a couple of games was a wonderful experience for me,” Vinatieri said.
Vinatieri got his call in his second year on the ballot and on Saturday will become just the third full-time placekicker to be inducted into the hall, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen.
But Vinatieri’s career resume stands out above his peers.
He retired with all-time marks of 2,673 career points and 599 field goals. Only George Blanda (26 seasons) and Andersen (25) had longer NFL careers than Vinatieri.
The four-time Super Bowl champion stunned many when he left New England following the 2005 season – after winning three of his rings and becoming the franchise’s career scoring leader after 10 seasons – and landed with rival Indianapolis.
Vinatieri was far from done with inking his name in the record books.
At age 34, he began what would be a 14-year run in Indy during which he broke the Colts’ career scoring mark and earned a fourth Super Bowl ring during his first season there in 2006.
By the time he finally walked away having played his final season in 2019 at age 47, Vinatieri also would own the NFL’s top marks for field goal attempts (715), consecutive field goals made (44) and 100-plus point seasons (21).
His legacy, though, was built from what he did in some of his most pressure-filled moments on the field.
His 45-yard field goal for the Patriots in blizzard-like conditions during the 2002 AFC divisional round playoff game against the Oakland Raiders tied the score and sent the Patriots to overtime. His 23-yarder in the extra frame propelled New England to the conference championship game.
Two weeks later, Vinatieri did it again by making a 48-yarder in the closing seconds to give the Patriots their first Super Bowl title with a 20-17 victory over the Rams.
Two years after that kick, Vinatieri and the Patriots were at it again during a wild back-and-forth fourth quarter in their Super Bowl matchup with the Carolina Panthers that featured 37 points combined.
Ricky Proehl caught a tying TD pass to make it 29-29 with 1:08 left. But the kickoff went out of bounds and the Patriots started at their 40.
Brady led his team down the field and set up Vinatieri for a 41-yard try with nine seconds left. Vinatieri nailed it to give New England a 32-29 win and its second Super Bowl title in three years.
“Those 10 years in New England, there was nothing like it,” Vinatieri said. “I know my teammates and I started a dynasty at that point winning a bunch of Super Bowls in a short amount of time. That was a great experience for me and one that I’ll cherish my entire life.”
Vinatieri’s poise under pressure was unmatched
Prior to facing Vinatieri and the Colts for the final time in 2018 when Brady was still with the Patriots, Brady said witnessing the winning kick against the Raiders would always stand out in his mind.
“I was lucky enough to be (in New England) when he was (there) early in his career and I thought so much of him. He was just so clutch. He always kind of made the kick and that’s what the mark of a great kicker is,” Brady said. “When you see it now, it’s pretty remarkable that he made it and what that meant for this organization. … What a lucky person to be able to be involved in that ‘Snow Bowl’ and to watch that kick go through.”
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a 2024 episode of his “The Coach Show” podcast that Vinatieri is alone amongst kickers he’s coached.
“Adam’s one of these guys, too, he’s a kicker but he worked out with the rest of the team,” Belichick said. “He didn’t act like a kicker. He was a football player. He was tough. He worked hard every day and he was very dependable in the clutch. There’s no player I’d rather have out there kicking a game-winning field goal than Adam Vinatieri. Probably even today.”
Time with Colts also contributed to Super Bowl win
While Vinatieri might be most remembered for his time in New England, he continued to excel during his tenure in Indy.
In January 2007, the South Dakota State alum made five field goals in a divisional round game that featured no touchdowns at Baltimore.
The 15-6 victory set up an AFC title game rematch between the Colts and Patriots, this time in Indy with Vinatieri on the opposite sideline from Brady and his former teammates. Vinatieri’s playoff run continued as the Colts reached their first Super Bowl since the franchise moved to Indianapolis.
Vinatieri made three more field goals in a 29-17 Super Bowl victory over Chicago and captured yet another ring while finishing that postseason with 49 points and 14 field goals, both one-season playoff records. He also became the first player to make three or more field goals in four consecutive postseason games.
Vinatieri enters the hall as a three-time All-Pro, was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
He ranks second all-time in NFL victories (242), regular-season wins (221) and postseason wins (21) and is one of five players who appeared in a game at age 46.
Induction honor goes to daughter of former Colts owner Irsay
His affinity for his time with the Colts was reflected in his choice to be presented at the Hall of Fame induction by Colts owner and CEO Carlie Irsay-Gordon.
He told Indianapolis’ Fox affiliate that he originally wanted to ask late owner Jim Irsay, who died in May 2025.
“Jim was the first pick. There really wasn’t anyone else I thought about,” Vinatieri said. “I was like, ’You know what? It means a lot to me but also potentially means a lot for her being the fact she’s the new owner. I just felt like it was the right thing for both of us. The more I thought of it, the more it became clear to me that this is the right thing to do.”
KUECHLY’S PREPARATION HELPED SHAPE CAREER
There were mornings when St. Xavier High School football coach Steve Specht would walk into his office and find his young linebacker, Luke Kuechly, sitting in front of the television studying game video of the team’s next opponent before sunrise.
Kuechly would hit play on the old VHS, pause the tape, and then rewind to play again, jotting down notes as he went.
Over and over again it went until it was time for class.
He would often return at lunch. And then again following the team’s late afternoon practice (the only time film watching was considered mandatory under Specht).
Kuechly would ask questions to Specht along the way: How should we attack if they audible to this formation? What tells should I be looking for? How do we shut them down?
It is there, in Specht’s tiny office, where Kuechly’s would spend endless hours learning the art of breaking down game film and utilizing the knowledge he picked up about an opponent’s tendencies to give him an edge on game day.
It’s a skill that would become Kuechly’s calling card – and one that helped propel him to greatness.
On Saturday, Kuechly will be inducted at Tom Benson Stadium – the same field where he led St. Xavier to a state championship in 2007.
Kuechly is the second-youngest player to enter the Hall
Kuechly only played eight seasons with the Carolina Panthers before concussions cut short his career at age 28 while he was still in his prime.
But what he accomplished in those eight seasons was remarkable.
After earning the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player at Boston College, Kuechly was selected ninth overall in 2012 by the Panthers.
His impact was immediate. He earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. A year later, he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year and led the Panthers to Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 season.
He was named an All-Pro five times.
On Saturday, he’ll become the second-youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“He’s as good of a linebacker as I’ve ever been around,” said former Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, who coached Kuechly for five seasons before leaving to become head coach in Buffalo.
McDermott said had Kuechly continued to play “I have no doubt he would have been considered the best ever. And in his prime, I think he might have been the best ever.”
The art of calling out plays before they happened
Opposing quarterbacks hated playing against Kuechly.
It meant three hours of the opposing middle linebacker standing across the line of scrimmage and calling out their plays before they happened.
When teams tried to audible, Kuechly often knew what was coming then, too.
Quarterback Jameis Winston once estimated in an NFL films segment that Kuechly knew at least 60% of Tampa Bay’s plays when he was the Buccaneers quarterback. And former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce joked that Kuechly must have had “insider trader information” when it came to the opposition’s strategy.
None of it surprised Specht.
“Luke’s intelligence, it was God-given,” said Specht, who still coaches at St. Xavier and plans to bring his team to the Hall of Fame ceremony. “The football IQ part of it was really interesting to watch evolve. Luke absorbed everything that we were trying to coach him up on. He just wanted to learn. A lot of kids, they go to film session for 35, 45 minutes because everybody else is going. Luke came to learn.”
The film study carried over to Boston College.
By that time the technology had evolved significantly and Kuechly could watch opponent’s plays broken down by different formation groups, down-and-distance and other easily labeled categories.
“That was like Disney World to me,” Kuechly said with a laugh.
His goal was always one thing: to be better prepared than his opponent.
“You want to do anything you can to help your team win, right?,” Kuechly said. “Watching tape, talking to coaches and having a good feel for what the other team was going to do, to me, helps you win. And it takes zero athletic ability. It takes zero talent. It’s just how much time you’re willing to put in.”
McDermott said by the time Kuechly arrived in Carolina he was at a “different level” than other players when it came to his knowledge of the game and instincts.
“The good ones, they see things through the lens of a quarterback,” McDermott said. “Luke’s ability to process things so quickly was so rare. I’ve only seen it in a few players.”
Kuechly had other attributes as well that led to the Hall
It was often said that Kuechly looked like Clark Kent with the dark hair and rimmed glasses and gentle persona off the field, but that he played like Superman.
He had physical tools and a demolition mentality to go along with his high football IQ. At 6-3 and 238 pounds, he once ran a 4.58-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine.
It was not uncommon to see No. 59 sprint from his middle linebacker position and drag down a running back near the sideline behind the line of scrimmage.
He had 75 tackles for a loss in his career.
He was a menace who had a knack for shedding blocks and locking up on tackles. He became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 1,000 career tackles, doing so in 107 career games.
“Luke had qualities you can’t teach,” said Fox sports analyst Greg Olsen, a former tight end who played eight seasons with Kuechly in Carolina. “You can’t teach instinct. You can’t teach feel. And then you combine that with his physical ability and his desire to win and you’ve got what every team is looking for – a Hall of Famer.”
The abrupt end to a great NFL career
On Nov. 17, 2016, Kuechly made his 14th and final tackle in a Thursday night game against the Saints on Tim Hightower, but caught the running back’s helmet under his chin strap. Kuechly fell backward and was then clipped in the back of the helmet by teammate Thomas Davis.
What followed was a scary scene that brought Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium to dead silence.
The Panthers’ star middle linebacker and seemingly unbreakable leader was carted off the field while sobbing uncontrollably, the result of a second concussion in two years.
He missed the remainder of the season.
Kuechly returned for the 2017 season and vowed not change his physical approach to the game, but suffered another concussion and missed more time.
Despite his history of concussions and a nagging shoulder injury, Kuechly returned to play all 32 games over the next two seasons, earning him All-Pro first team in 2018 and second team in 2019.
But just weeks after the 2019 season concluded, Kuechly abruptly announced on the team’s social media account that he was retiring from football, sending shockwaves throughout the NFL. Kuechly said he only knew one way to play the game – fast, physical and strong.
“I don’t know if I’m able to do that anymore,” Kuechly said, as his eyes welled up with tears. “That’s the part that is the most difficult.”
Carolina fans, who had come to adorn Kuechly with long cheers of “Luuuuuuuke!” after big hits and big plays on Sunday, had lost one of their all-time favorites.
“Fans, teammates, coaches, his family – everyone in Charlotte was heartbroken, just completely heartbroken,” Olsen said. “They were heartbroken for Luke because everyone knew how much he loved the game.”
Kuechly said he’s at peace with the decision to walk away from the game while still in his prime, calling it “the right one.”
“I look at it from the perspective of this: I was so fortunate to have had the opportunity to play for eight years in the NFL and live a childhood dream,” Kuechly said. “You can’t beat that.”