Former Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly has joined the team’s radio broadcast.

The Panthers announced Monday that Kuechly will be part of the broadcast team for seven games in 2022, along with play-by-play announcer Anish Shroff and either Jordan Gross or Jake Delhomme. Jim Szoke will remain the third man in the booth for the 10 other regular season games.

A seven-time Pro Bowl selection and five-time All-Pro, Kuechly retired after the 2019 season at the age of 28.

Now 31, he said joining the broadcast booth felt like the natural next step.

“I just love the Panthers; I love being around it,” Kuechly said. “I love the people. I think I want to be attached to the team, and the game, and the organization somehow. I think it could be a lot of fun. I think that’s the biggest reason, to do something around the game on game day that’s fun. You still get the atmosphere, and all the good memories I have here in Carolina.”

Kuechly will broadcast six home games: Week 1 vs. Cleveland, Week 4 vs. Arizona, Week 5 vs. San Francisco, Week 7 vs. Tampa Bay, Week 12 vs. Denver and Week 15 vs. Pittsburgh. He will also make the Week 9 road trip to his hometown of Cincinnati.

“You just know (Kuechly’s) going to be good at it,” Delhomme said. “I look forward to it because he’s so smart.”

A first-round pick (ninth overall) by Carolina in 2012, Kuechly was a tackling savant upon his arrival into the league, leading the NFL with 164 tackles in his rookie season as he was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

He led the league again in 2014 with 153 stops and retired with 1,092 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 18 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries in 118 games (all starts).

–Field Level Media