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We’re counting down the days until the Panthers kick off the 2024 season.
We’re officially 67 days away from the Carolina Panthers kicking off the 2024 NFL season against the New Orleans Saints. It will be their second consecutive road opener. Now it’s time for our annual roster countdown to highlight the players on the Panthers’ roster. Since there is not currently a No. 67 on the roster, we decided to take a look back at a former Panther great who donned that number — center Ryan Kalil.
Way back in 2007, the Panthers were in the market for a center. Little did they know that they would not need another one for over a decade. The team decided to use a second round pick (59th overall) on Ryan Kalil out of USC. Though he only appeared in six games his rookie year, his sophomore campaign began a stretch of Kalil being the unquestioned starting center for the Panthers. Instantly becoming a fan favorite because of his reliability up front, Kalil also had the respect of his peers as he was selected to the NFL’s Top 100 players list three times (2012, 2014, and 2016), an impressive feat for an interior offensive lineman. He was elected to five Pro Bowls in a seven year span between 2009 and 2015, and he was voted First Team All-Pro following the hugely successful 2013 and 2015 campaigns.
Ironically, Kalil ended his career where it could have very well began: with the New York Jets. Draft day in 2020 saw the Jets and Panthers make a franchise defining trade that worked out well for both teams. The Jets traded the 25th overall pick (which became linebacker Jon Beason), the 59th overall pick (Kalil), and the 164th overall pick (linebacker Tim Shaw) to the Panthers in exchange for the 14th overall pick (cornerback Darrelle Revis) and the 191st overall pick (linebacker Korey Hall). The Jets got a Hall of Famer and the Panthers got two cornerstone players. Win-win. After the 2018 season, the Panthers were in a major transition as a franchise. Stalwarts were jettisoned left and right, and Kalil was no exception. He ended playing one more season after signing with the Jets.
The end of the NEW(ton Riv)ERA fizzled out like the careers of many of that team’s cornerstones, which was doubly hard for Panthers fans to watch. While Kalil has not yet been inducted into the Panthers Hall of Honor, I’m sure he’s on David Tepper’s short list among the other legends of that era like Olsen, Newton, Kuechly, and Davis.