CHARLOTTE — Robert Hunt is a large man. He is a loud man.

But there's also a version of Robert Hunt that likes to sink into the Earth a little, to tune out all the noise. To get back to himself, and remember where he came from.

There are players who like to take their shoes off and feel the grass for reasons they believe to be scientific. And maybe there's something to that.

But for Rob Hunt, his pregame strolls on the turf without shoes, and the longer ones he takes on Tuesday mornings, are more about centering his mind than anything to necessarily do with his body.

"It's literally a routine that I've been doing; it's just gratitude, honestly, just like me being grateful that God put me where I am today," Hunt said.

At this point, it's worth backing up to remember that this is a man who signed a $100 million contract to come to the Panthers a year ago, then went to his first Pro Bowl in recognition of an excellent season for a five-win team, and welcomed his son into the world.

Life is good for Robert Hunt. He has a lot to be grateful for.

So those moments of peace when he stretches his toes across the grass are a quiet reminder to him of what matters.

"Sometimes you get emotional," he said. "I remember back in my day, sometimes it's reminded me, and I'll call my sisters, my brothers afterward, and let them know I love them. Like, it's just literally whatever comes into my mind in that moment, it's kind of what I feel.

"So it's literally a moment for me to just get within myself and to see how I feel and what I feel. Walking here last year, I remember myself looking at the city and being like, 'Wow, this is beautiful.'"

For football players, the rituals take on meaning beyond the simple act of doing any particular thing. It's taking time to do something on purpose. That can be lifting at a specific time, or yoga, or sitting in a sauna, or getting doughnuts with their kids. The key is the deliberate action.

So for Hunt, it's coming in on his Tuesday day off, and heading to the practice fields and kicking off his shoes.

When he was in Miami, he was teammates with wide receiver Mack Hollins, who is famous for walking around barefoot. His story leans toward the physical benefits, because he believes the "grounding" or "Earthing" has helped him correct problems with his feet and ankles that allowed him to remain in the league. Hollins also eats with his hands.

"I was with him my rookie year in Miami, I asked him some questions about it, and he explained it," Hunt said. "I don't know. I haven't done as much research on it, so I can't really speak on it, but I definitely enjoy it on my off days and just going out, getting on the grass. I just like to go out there and just feel it and just walk around."

Of course, the sight of bare feet can take some people off guard, even in an NFL locker room. There have been players fined for walking into the cafeteria without shoes, and there are lines that must be drawn.

"Yeah, that's gross," Hunt said. "Too far."

"I don't even walk barefoot in my own house," defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. "He better not be walking in the shower barefoot. That's nasty."

(Rest assured, Hunt has shower shoes and he uses them.)

"I grew up on a farm, so you walk around barefooted, you get a thorn in your foot," offensive lineman Cade Mays said. "So you've got to be careful with that."

But Hunt laughed and said it took him back to his days growing up in Jasper, Texas.

"I just ran around with no shoes on when I was a kid, we'd walk outside, we'd play football on the rocks," he said. "I'm a country boy and I never had shoes on, so now when I go out and walk, it helps me stay grounded."

Teammates mostly shrug when they see him walking by, because everyone has their own routines.

"I mean, that's Rob," center Austin Corbett said. "If it works for him, it works for him."

And whatever Hunt is doing clearly works. He's quickly become one of the signature players here because of the way he can impact a game. The Panthers spent heavily on guards last year to protect quarterback Bryce Young, but they also found an infectious personality to go with the football talent.

Earlier this summer in OTAs, a couple of teammates squared up as if they were going to fight. But before it could get too heated, Hunt jumped between them.

He then started dancing, gyrating his hips in a way that defused any potential tension, as everyone was too busy laughing along with him.

"That's what I do," he said. "That was just for me to let them know, for me it's not that serious. That's where I'm at with it. It's too hot out here, we're working too hard, so who's got time for all that bull----, so I was just getting after it a little, made some people laugh, and we keep going."

And his teammates appreciate the levity he can bring, along with the physical nature of his game. But to be able to do that, you also have to have football credentials, or it can come off as clownish. When one of your best players is also the one in the middle of the fun, it lands differently.

"Everything that we do is extremely hard, and to be able to just bring that light, that energy, then just that passion and have fun with it," Corbett said. "This game is hard, and practices are long. They can suck sometimes, so let's make it fun. Let's go have fun, and let's go bring that juice; so it makes it better.

"There's that ability, that age, that experience, that talent to where you can go have fun, but when you have that time, you've got to be able to lock back in to get that next play. So it's a skill and it's something that you can only develop over time, so it just speaks to his talent as well, like, OK, I'm going to go whoop up on the D-line, do my job, go get it done, and bam, and go celebrate it and have fun and have good energy."

And even the guys he's leaning on during practice respect that energy he brings. For Brown, getting back into practice and seeing Hunt and Damien Lewis on the other side of the line provided all the evidence he needed about his own rehab from last year's knee problems.

"Rob is a big-ass man," Brown said, and he's not exactly small. "He is a big-ass man, so he is a monster to go against. I played him down when he was in Miami, so I was excited to see him sign here. But I mean he's a great dude on and off the field, but we go to war every day.

"He's big as hell, but he moves like a dancing bear. I mean, he moves fast as hell. You've got to be careful, really, just him and Dame, they are huge, they're wide bodies out there. I know if I go out there and I'll go against these guys, I'll be all right."

All of those people are grateful for Hunt, too. Corbett enjoys playing next to a mammoth guard, and Brown's happy to have Hunt on his team.

But on Tuesday mornings and in pregames, it's just Hunt out there, alone with his thoughts.

And when he kicks off his slides and touches the Earth, his thoughts tend to go to the same place.

"It's gratitude, man, honestly just gratitude," Hunt said. "So I try to put myself in the spot with this, because nobody's out there, just letting it be quiet, and remembering all I have to be thankful for, so that's what I do."