Now-former Carolina Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson had the luxury of starting his NFL career under the wings of two franchise legends. And on Monday, one of those legends had the luxury of looking back on his time with his old mentee.
This morning, the Panthers announced that they will not be re-signing the veteran defender ahead of the 2025 campaign. That decision will mark the end of a 10-year run in Carolina for Thompson, who is now headed to free agency.
Later on in the evening, Nick Carboni of WCNC Charlotte caught up with Panthers great Luke Kuechly at Greg Olsen’s HEARTest Yard Ungala event. Carboni asked Kuechly about Thompson . . .
Just spoke with #Panthers legendary LB Luke Kuechly about Shaq Thompson @wcnc pic.twitter.com/RzUt3kYrqj
— Nick Carboni (@NickCarboniWCNC) February 24, 2025
Thompson entered the league as a first-round pick back in 2015, at the beginning of Kuechly’s fourth NFL season. The two would spend five years as teammates prior to Kuechly’s retirement in 2020.
Kuechly ended his career with the second-most solo tackles (690) in franchise history. Oh, and that mentee did pretty well for himself, too—as he sits fourth on that list (470) after a productive decade in Carolina.