Quotes from Luke Kuechly

You can't just run in there and expect to get to the quarterback. There's good backs, good linemen, good protection that's designed so it's not easy to get there. A lot of it's technique.

Knowing what everyone is doing, you can play faster.

A football career is a finite career.

I really enjoy fishing. It's one of those things you have to get in your element for.

I think David Johnson is getting better, if that's possible. I think he's a really good player. I think he can do a lot of things. He's big. He's explosive. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. You can line him up out wide. I think he's a very dynamic player.

A lot of what I do is try to watch tape and understand how guys come out of breaks - what their footwork looks like, or how they look at the top of a pass route. Guys have tendencies. I try to understand what they do, which allows me to be successful.

I get frustrated with myself very easily.

It's the right thing to do to help out and give your time, I think that's something that everybody's got the same amount of time and it's, how do you use that time.

With all these teams spreading it out and throwing the ball, that's more my style of play.

As the game progresses and people throw the ball more often, the tight ends have become more and more difficult to guard.

You look tight on camera, it sees it. The camera can see everything.

If you put in the work, and give your body the clean nutrients it needs to recover and get stronger, then the good days will outweigh the bad ones.

I try to get most of my stuff in so during the week everything is kind of laid out and I understand why our coaches are calling certain defenses, what the game plan looks like in reference to what the other team is doing.

I just try to go out there and have fun and just get to the ball. That's kind of my goal: just get to the ball and make something happen.

I think football is a lifestyle more than anything. It's how you eat, it's how you sleep, it's how you conduct yourself. It's just everything you do you have to keep in mind, is this going to help or have a positive impact on how my practice is going to be, how my workout is going to be, how the game is going to be.

I think when you play a contact sport there's always inherent risk and inherent risk to injury. At what point do you tolerate it, and at what point is it enough?

I'm not going to make my bed perfectly every time. As much as my mom would want me to make it perfectly every time, if I got to get somewhere, I'm not going to make sure that pillow is just right. My toothbrush doesn't have to be in the same place every time. I'm not OCD about that stuff. When it comes to football, I want to be right on everything.

You don't play the game and ever think about getting hurt, because that slows you down and increases the likelihood of getting hurt. I don't think about it. You just go out there and play.

I play the game and I understand what's going to happen; you get banged up. But you signed up for it.

There are inherent risks playing football, but I think the guys understand it, and the guys not willing to take the risk, who are retiring, that's fine.

I think leading's about doing what's natural to you, because if you do what's natural to you guys will follow it. If you do something that's unnatural they're going to know it's forced.

You can get a young guy and he comes in and he's athletic, he can hit and he can run, but if they don't know what they're doing, they're a step behind.

I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to play the game for eight years and the people around me were fantastic, everybody in the Carolina Panthers organization treated me well, they taught me a lot.

My thing is, if you're going to put stuff in your body, it's going to be beneficial. Clean carbs, complex carbs, good proteins, a balanced diet. It's difficult to do it on a consistent basis, but it's pretty straightforward: fish, chicken, lean red meat, vegetables, fruits, complex carbs. The hardest part is putting on the work.