Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly has been voted by his peers as the No. 24 player in the NFL’s Top 100 list heading into the 2019 season. Kuechly was ranked No. 12 last year.
It’s interesting that Kuechly dropped 12 spots on this years’ list since his play on the field didn’t really warrant that kind of fall. In 2018 he played in all 16 games for the Panthers and logged 130 tackles (93 solo), 20 tackles-for-loss, five quarterback hits, two sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception. The only explanation I can come up with is that people just kinda forgot about Kuechly since the Panthers finished last season with a 7-9 record and because the defense kinda sucked for a decent chunk of the year (even though that wasn’t Kuechly’s fault).