In eight seasons with the Carolina Panthers, Kuechly was a seven-time All-Pro, a seven-time Pro Bowler, Defensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Super Bowl runner-up. He was named to the All-Decade team for the 2010s.
Kuechly led the NFL in tackles in 2012 as a rookie with 164 stops, a Panthers franchise record, and again in 2014 with 153 tackles. He amassed the 100-tackle threshold in each of his eight seasons. In addition, Kuechly won the Butkus Award given to the NFL’s top linebacker three times in his career (2014, 2015, 2017) and received the Art Rooney Award for sportsmanship in 2017. In total, Kuechly finished with nearly 1,100 tackles, 18 interceptions, 66 passes defensed, 12.5 sacks and 31 quarterback hits.
A 2012 first-round draft selection (Ninth overall), Kuechly left The Heights as one of the most decorated defensive players in college football history. In 38 career games with 37 starts, Kuechly recorded an ACC and school-record 532 total tackles, which is second all-time in NCAA history.
He was the only player to ever lead the nation in tackles more than once and first player to lead the ACC in tackles three times in his career. As a junior in 2011, Kuechly earned the Bronko Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player, the Butkus Award as the nation’s most outstanding linebacker and Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s best lineman or linebacker. He was a First-team All-American, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and a First-Team All-ACC selection after leading the nation with a conference record 191 tackles.
As a sophomore in 2010, Kuechly again earned First-Team All-American and First-team All-ACC honors. He ranked first in the nation with 183 tackles that season. As a true freshman in 2009, Kuechly earned First-Team Freshman All-American, ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and First-Team All-ACC honors after finishing second in the nation with 158 total tackles.
