SAN FRANCISCO — Luke Kuechly built an entire career on never being caught off guard, always knowing the opponent's next move.

When fellow Hall of Famer Drew Brees was asked this weekend how often he felt like Kuechly was making his calls before he did, the former Saints quarterback laughed and said: "Every play."

So it takes a lot to surprise Luke Kuechly.

A lot of people. Also a little espionage. A few tears maybe, but not for the reasons you'd think. A couple of appetizers. A lot of gratitude. And a lot of love, because on the most important night of his professional life, he was surrounded by the people who matter most to him.

And in the end, Kuechly set up his own sting, adding a hilarious and unexpected layer to the weeks of meticulous planning.

To get Julius Peppers into Charlotte ahead of an ice storm was one thing, but getting all the other pieces in place took even more phone calls, panicked texts, a rushed dinner including people eating the food off Kuechly's plate, and a couple of little white lies to get him out the door, but it was all worth it for the moment.

Once that moment finally came, at least.

Because to deliver the news that Luke Kuechly had been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it took a village, even if that village was one person short.

And that's almost perfectly the way Luke Kuechly would have wanted it.

The story of the moment Luke Kuechly learned he was going to the Hall of Fame goes back around 13 months. To pull off the Knocks show, the Hall of Fame arranges for an existing member of the Hall to give the news to the incoming class. Generally, they'll look for a teammate, or a guy who played his position, or someone meaningful to the player.

For Kuechly, the first player in franchise history to spend his entire career with the Panthers, there was really only one choice.

So when Kuechly was eligible for the first time in 2025, the Hall started making rough plans, and chief relationships officer Adrian Allison called former Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, who was enshrined the year before. Peppers had watched Kuechly's career closely when he was drafted in 2012 by his then-former team, and finally got to be teammates with him when he returned from his Chicago and Green Bay sabbatical in 2017. The respect between the two is clear.

But, Peppers isn't always easy to reach, and if he's gone on a trip with his family, he's gone gone, and out of pocket for even his closest friends and associates. There are no guarantees that you can get Peppers if you're looking for him, so when he returned Allison's call, there was a sense of relief.

And as with most conversations with Peppers, it was a quick one.

"He just immediately said, 'I'm there,'" Allison said. "That was pretty much it."

Of course, Kuechly wasn't elected a year ago, so that plan was shelved, and they ran the same play when preparing this year's show. Peppers was home in Florida when Allison called again, and the response was just as rapid.

"Adrian reached out, and we went through the same conversation again. Hey, this time he made it. Can you make it to Charlotte?" Peppers said. "So, you know, again, the answer was like, of course, yeah, let's go. Just tell me, and I'll be there.

"Because, you know, I mean, it's an honor for him, but it was an honor for me to be able to be waiting for him when he got home to welcome him to the club, because it's the highest honor. I was happy to be a part of it."

Julius Peppers doesn't leave the house for just anybody. For Luke Kuechly, his answer was instant.

Getting the Hall of Famer in place was just one part of the process.

Kuechly's part of the television show was the final of the five they filmed for this year's class.

They started on Monday, Jan. 19, in California, and taped a pair of them with Drew Brees and Roger Craig. Then they flew to Florida on Tuesday the 20th to tape Larry Fitzgerald's. Wednesday morning was Adam Vinatieri's, meaning Kuechly was the final one of the sprint to create the special (the clips aren't presented in sequential order on the show).

So the outline of the plan was put in place, with his longtime marketing agent and confidant, Howard Skall, one of the people who know him best, running point on the mission.

Howard, is Luke Kuechly a difficult person to surprise?

"I thought so," Skall said with a big laugh. "But we got him good. We got him good. That was a lot of fun. That was a ton of fun."

Skall enlisted a small group of co-conspirators on the ground in Charlotte, whose job was to make sure he was out of the house long enough to get the camera crew and Peppers set up. That included Kuechly's girlfriend, and former teammates Greg Olsen and JJ Jansen. Kuechly knew his family was headed to Florida, and often his father, Tom, would drive the car down and stop in Charlotte while the rest flew. So there was some family involvement, too. Between them, there was a reasonable chance to play keep-away, and there was the outline of a plan.

But there were also a lot of moving parts.

NFL Network host Steve Wyche has done many of these, and there were worrisome elements in this one, because as you may have heard, sometimes the news gets out before they want it to.

"I will say this, Luke's might have been the most risky because of the amount of people there," Wyche laughed. "I mean, there were a good 20 people there."

Despite all that, Kuechly didn't sniff out that play as he had so many others throughout the years, but he did call an audible that forced them all to adjust.

Jansen had turned 40 years old that Tuesday, and the two of them were at Bank of America Stadium the following day, talking about a future project. Kuechly mentioned that day that Hall of Fame president Jim Porter had called him the Friday of that week the year before to break the bad news, so he figured word might be coming soon, but he didn't know when. All he knew was he already had plans to finally get the gang together that night. And there was an ice storm heading their way, so anything he might hear would have to happen soon, or probably the following week.

But he already had plans.

"Back in the middle of December, he said I really need like a boys' night, like can we go out to dinner or something like that?" Jansen recalled. "And he said, throw me some dates."

These guys are all busy adults. Jansen was still playing football, of course. And Olsen was broadcasting, so it's hard to schedule around the holidays. And then the Panthers made the playoffs for the first time since Kuechly was playing, and then Kuechly did some broadcasting work for ESPN around the college national championship game. And then Olsen was called away for a family emergency, but Luke was determined to have a night out, so he called a play. Every football team has a backup, so Andy Dalton subbed in for Olsen (they asked former teammate Colin Jones as well, but he was out of town), and they locked in the 21st, and Kuechly made a reservation at Steak 48.

"So this happens early January; I get a phone call from Howard, and he said, 'Hey, we want to do a knock, what do you think we can do?'" Jansen said. "I said, well, look, we've got a dinner planned that Luke scheduled. He called Steak 48. He picked the time. He did all this stuff. He's expecting a knock. What if we did a reverse knock? That was Howard's idea.

"But also, what if we just let this event be the thing because he scheduled it?"

So off they went, just the three of them, Jansen, Dalton, and Kuechly, while the rest of the crowd was getting set up at the house.

Appetizers were ordered — they had the meatballs and the crispy shrimp. They got a round of drinks. Jansen, feeling the moment of espionage, ordered a dirty martini.

"Not going to lie, I felt like James Bond," Jansen said.

"He did not look like James Bond," Dalton replied.

So the three of them did what the three of them do, having a little fellowship. But at a certain point, all the people on the periphery began to worry about time.

Jansen's wife, Laura, started texting to see if they were going to hit their ETA. And since two of them knew they needed to be back at the house by 8 or 8:15 p.m., there were moments of panic.

Which seemed weird to Kuechly, because generally conversations with Jansen take time to unfold; they contain layers and chapters, they have plot twists and character development.

"I mean, you go to Steak 48 with JJ Jansen, you're gonna be there, like two and a half to three hours if you're lucky, right?" Kuechly said. "We get a drink, and then we order like one or two appetizers, and then we're sitting, and then all of a sudden it's like, all right, let's order, let's order, let's order dinner.

"And I was like, what? Why are we rushing through this, JJ? This is for your birthday."

At one point in trying to get out of the restaurant, Jansen started eating Kuechly's entree, anything to get them on the road quicker.

"I'm full, I think I'm done, and Luke said, I've got some tuna, do you want to try it?" Jansen said. "And I just started eating all the tuna off of his plate. I've already said I was full, but I'm trying to get everything off of his plate so that he's done and we can go."

Meanwhile, realizing she needed an assist, Laura Jansen texts Dalton's wife, also named JJ, who played the mom card.

"It gets to be like 8:30, and my JJ was talking to Laura, and they're like, hey, y'all need to get going. They need to get this thing started," Dalton recalled. "So, my wife calls me and is like, 'Hey, there's something wrong with our son Nash, you're going to need to get home right now.' And so, at first I was like, OK, is something really wrong with Nash? But really, that was her way of being, like, hey, get out of there.

"So then I look at Luke, say hey, Nash is going through something, so I've got to go."

When you go out with dads, this is always a risk.

"I mean, I don't have kids, I don't know?" Kuechly said later with a shrug.

But in that moment, Kuechly was out with friends and relaxing, and started to wonder why everyone was a little off.

"I started to leave, and Luke's like, are we not going to get dessert for JJ's birthday?" Dalton laughed. "And JJ's like, no, I'm good, I don't need anything. That should have been a sign."

"I was like, that's kind of lame," Kuechly said. "Like, it's your birthday, man. You just turned 40. Let's have some dessert here. And then, JJ's just like, oh, you know, I need to get home. Well, we'll just stop and get something on the way home, and he didn't want to do that either, so I ended up dropping JJ off and just kinda being like, well, that was abnormal. I've never had a dinner with JJ that was that quick, you know. So, I'm like, whatever. I don't know."

It was not the last time things seemed a little off.

After they left the restaurant, Kuechly dropped Jansen back off at his house, and they all knew the approximate drive time between the places because they've traveled it often. So Jansen sent up the bat signal back to Skall to let them know the subject was on the way.

Luke Kuechly grew up in a very traditional family, the second of Tom and Eileen Kuechly's three boys. And being a traditional dad, Tom Kuechly walks through the house turning off light switches.

So when Kuechly pulled up to his house, thinking it was just going to be his dad there, he was a little taken aback.

"So I pull up to the house, and there's a ton of lights on," Kuechly said. "And there are a couple of lights on that traditionally aren't on, cause my dad is a big 'If the light doesn't need to be on, it doesn't need to be on' guy. So I was like, I don't know, maybe he hit a button and turned the light on.

"So I walked into the house. And I turned the light off in the hallway, which is traditionally not on. And I'm like, 'Hey dad', and don't get a response. I was like, well, that's weird. And the TV's not on, so I'm like, what's up?"

What was up was a room full of people, including one very large one, wearing a big gold jacket with an ever bigger smile on his face.

In the television business, timing is everything.

But when Kuechly walked into his family room and saw Peppers standing there flanked by his family, and a full television crew with lights and cameras, he froze.

"There's like 30 people all staring at you, and Big Pep is just standing there with his jacket on, cheesing, and I didn't know what to, I didn't know how to react," Kuechly said. "It took me a second to kind of figure out what was going on. I see my dad and mom and my brothers, and I had zero idea. I didn't anticipate any of it, and then, and then freaking Pep is standing there. They got me.

"And then you go from Pep standing there. And I don't think you can really explain how big he is until you meet him, and Pep is standing there in my house with his jacket on, and I don't know what to do. And my brother said, I didn't expect you to react that way, and I was like, I didn't know, I didn't know how to react.

"I was stunned, surprised, and then obviously it's, it's super cool, man. I didn't anticipate it. They freaking got me. That's what I told them, I said, you guys got me."

At that moment, Peppers has a job to do, and he's supposed to welcome Kuechly to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But for what felt like a lifetime with cameras rolling, the two former teammates just stood staring at each other. It wasn't as long as it felt, but it definitely took a second.

"I'm like, come on, Pep, say the line," the ever-professional Wyche said. "Pep's not saying anything. Pep's just kind of standing there. And Luke's like, so Pep, what's going on? 'You're still big, Pep,' and Pep's not saying anything.

"We're like, hit the line. Deliver the line, dude. You're missing your cue. And then Pep finally is like, 'Luke Kuechly, you've been chosen to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I want to welcome you to the Class of 2026.'

"It was really good, and a lot of Luke's family was here. And they were just kind of waiting, and I was like, 'Go hug him up, man. This is a big moment.' So it was great."

Being part of this was a cool experience for Peppers because two years earlier, his family made up a flimsy excuse about his son needing to do homework and having to miss soccer practice to get him in the right place at the right time, so all-time sack leader Bruce Smith could say hello.

But mostly, Peppers was determined to be there for Kuechly because of what he meant to him as a teammate and as the new standard-bearer for the Panthers organization that he used to be.

So he loved being able to hang out at the house with the Kuechly family for a couple of hours, because this was a thing worth doing right.

Especially when he saw that look of quiet surprise on the face of the guy who had been predicting the future in huddles his whole life.

"I was kind of at a loss for words," Kuechly said. "Of course, I started sweating because I got nervous, which I'm sure you'll be able to see on those videos."

"I saw a look of surprise, nervousness that I had never seen in his face before, and shock," Peppers said. "I was just in his moment, trying to be present with him and make sure everything went smoothly with his moment.

"He looked a little bit overwhelmed. Like I said, a little nervousness in his energy, it was a little overwhelming for him."

Kuechly knew, of course, that if you get to this point, there was going to be a Knocks show. What he didn't know was who was going to be on the other side of the door, or which side of the door they'd be on.

But he was hoping for Peppers.

"I mean, it would have been cool if it was Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis or Derrick Brooks or Zach Thomas or one of those guys," Kuechly said of the Hall of Fame linebackers. "But that it was Pep to me is super cool because he's Julius Peppers! (Exclamation marks just come up organically when Kuechly talks about Peppers).

"Playing in Carolina when I got drafted, there were pictures, and there was always like this aura and a legend of Julius Peppers. And you see highlights, and you see him running at Chapel Hill, and then you see him picking passes off, and you see him running down Michael Vick.

"I told Pep, there's this picture that was in the hallway there. A Pep in a white jersey holding a football with his visor on, like, just such a prototypical picture. And I told him, I always wanted to meet that guy, and then to have the opportunity to play with him his last two years, and then for him to be at the house was super cool."

"It meant a lot for me to be there, too, man," Peppers said.

Peppers gave a toast, and Kuechly's looking forward to seeing the show, because he admittedly blanked a little in that moment.

"Dad said it was really well done," Kuechly said with a laugh. "Pep is quiet, he's a man of few words, but the one thing is he's very thoughtful. I think he's got really good emotional intelligence, and it was perfect.

"It was about as perfect as it could have gone, and for it to be Pep, I thought it was so cool because when I got to Carolina, like Pep was the freaking dude, man. I grew up watching him, and then I got to see him when we played Chicago my rookie year, and then for him to come full circle and end his time back in Carolina, it was really cool."

As cool as it was, it was also poignant because it was incomplete.

There was one person who was not there.

Greg Olsen was a teammate for Kuechly's entire career with the Panthers, and they went through a lot together. For Luke Kuechly, Olsen, his parents and brothers, and especially his wife Kara and their kids aren't like part of his family, they are family.

Which has made the last few weeks difficult for them all.

Olsen's brother Chris passed away last week after a battle with cancer, and the night Kuechly was getting the news from the Hall of Fame, Olsen was by his brother's bedside in Little Rock, Ark. The plan was to call in to share the moment, but they weren't sure if they would be able to.

When Kuechly was asked about that moment during a brief break between being fitted for his gold jacket and having a pair of calipers placed on his head to measure for the bronze bust, he paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. This was important, so he wanted to say it just right.

"He's a big part of my career, him and Kara both, right?" Kuechly said. "And that whole family, his mom, his dad, both his brothers. His family is special. He's special. And I just think it shows you what a family should look like.

"The most important thing in your life is your family, and no matter what's going on, how bad he wants to be somewhere, he's there for his family at all times. And I think at the end of the day, when you think about it, that's Greg, that's the Olsens, that's Greg and Kara and his whole family. And I appreciate that about him, that his family is the number one most important thing, and Greg is the best at making the right decision, and that was the right decision for him to be down there with his family and his brother in Arkansas."

Since he couldn't be there, Olsen wrote out the words he wanted his close friend and fellow middle school football coach to hear that night, and texted them to Jansen, just in case. Fortunately, he was able to FaceTime in and join the celebration, telling Kuechly how proud he was of him, and that, as uncomfortable as it made him receiving praise, he needed to get used to it.

There were some other words that didn't make the show, words between friends who have been through a lot together, and were going through a lot together.

"He wrote a really, really nice letter," Kuechly said. "Like a letter that only Greg could write."

Olsen was willing to share those words. Kuechly asked to hold them back, to let that moment be between them, at a sensitive time for his friend.

Always thinking of others, that's the Luke Kuechly way.

"That phone call was gutting," Wyche said. "You could tell how much Greg wanted to be there."

Of course, the celebration continued, and Jansen and Dalton, having delivered the guest of honor, came back to join them.

Luke, being Luke, made a beeline for Dalton.

"He's like, is Nash OK?" Dalton said. "That's what he was thinking about in the moment. That's the person he is."

This is what they expect of him at this point. In his moment of personal triumph, he wanted to make sure that Jansen got birthday cake, that Nash Dalton wasn't actually sick, and that Greg Olsen felt comforted.

"It couldn't happen to a better person," Peppers said. "He's the most deserving person that I know. We all think that it should have happened last year. But it didn't, and he even said, you know, it happens when it's supposed to, right? So, it didn't, it happened now. So we're just going to worry about the now, we're not going to worry about the past when he didn't get it. I mean, he's, he's in the club now, so we're going to celebrate him how he's supposed to."

This is what Skall has come to expect from his client and his friend.

They met in 2012, before Kuechly was drafted to the Panthers, and have spent the last week together through every step of a grueling process, from ceremonies and celebrations, to the more mundane business of signing contracts and helmets and being fitted for a new jacket by the good people at Haggar on Saturday morning.

And through it all, Skall has only seen more evidence of what he's known for years.

"I told Jim Porter (the Hall president) in our first conversation, I knew he'd be a Hall of Famer, but he's a better person than he ever was a player, which obviously sets the tone," Skall said. "So, as far as how he found out, I think we had two goals with it. Number one was I wanted to make sure that the people who we wanted there as part of that moment were there. That was first and foremost.

"Second was then if we could surprise him. And he didn't pick up on it at all. It was a lot of work, but it worked out. It was as special as I was hoping it would be."

The guy who was never surprised on the field was certainly surprised that Wednesday night in his own home, and the sweat poured before the champagne corks popped.

It was an almost perfect start to what will be a memorable year for Luke Kuechly.

Whether he realizes it or not, or wants it or not, this is going to be a celebration.