CHARLOTTE — At a certain point in his career, Luke Kuechly realized he was more than just a great player — he had to become a leader.

Shaq Thompson realized that immediately over a plate of tacos.

Thompson said that as soon as he got here in 2015, Kuechly took the first-round pick to Bakersfield on East Blvd. and made the expectations clear.

"He just told me to come in and work," Thompson said. "He basically said we've got enough leaders, we just need some followers, and that's what I did since the first day I stepped in that building, just worked my ass off, because I always wanted that respect from the vets.

"Of course, you want Luke's respect, TD's respect, so you've just got to come in here and work, and that's what I did as a rookie. Shut up, shut up. I did my rookie duties, and I just let the cards fall into play, and I earned my respect."

It was just a night out with tacos. But for Thompson, it was everything, because he was being invited into the club.

Even having that conversation shows an awareness that is part of what makes Kuechly special. The idea of leadership is a hard one for him to wrap his mind around, because in his mind, everyone in that locker room is the same. So recognizing that it was on him to share that with Thompson, along with the tacos, was a process that took time.

And because he processed football information by either writing it or saying it to himself over and over, that gave him another chance to master the material himself. Even though the Panthers changed defensive coordinators three times during his eight seasons (from Sean McDermott, to Steve Wilks when McDermott got the Buffalo head coaching job, to Eric Washington when Wilks got the Arizona head coaching job), it was still the same defense.

"I had the advantage of having the same system my whole career," Kuechly said, downplaying his role in the careers of others yet again. So it went from McDee to Wilks to Eric Washington; it was pretty much the same. So I didn't have to learn a new position, I didn't have to learn new terminology, I didn't have to learn a new coach. And so when we'd go through meetings, you've heard it a million times.

"And so then I really enjoyed the opportunity to say, 'Hey, here's another way to think about it, or here is how I think about it, or this is what this defense means.' But I think that was super fun with guys, but then also for me, teaching was a really good way to reinforce what we were doing. Like me having the opportunity to talk and to communicate it and to draw it and to show people, I'm sure it was helpful for them. But it was equally as helpful for me because it's just another opportunity for me to think about it, talk about it, and like be in that situation."

That's a very gracious way of putting it, Luke.

But that kind of making everyone at ease with the material by making it something he needs too is consistent with his character.

When Hall of Famer Julius Peppers came back home in 2017, he saw a side of Kuechly beyond the admiration he already had for him on the field, when he saw the way he interacted with the undrafted rookies.

"The thing that stood out to me was what a great teammate he was; it was just him just being himself," Peppers said. "Just taking the time out to mentor or talk to a young player that he knows probably may not make the team. It wasn't highly likely he was going to make the team, but still. Luke was there with him, trying to give him all the time and everything he needed to try to be successful.

"Stuff like that, mentoring, being a great teammate to all the guys in the locker room, that's Luke."

Being willing to go that far down the depth chart isn't always common, because the main thing is still the main thing. You have to win, so most of the attention goes to the guys who help you most. That's just natural.

"A lot of times, you know, guys are focused on the starters or whatever, but that, that seems to be kind of his deal. That, that's always been him," Wilks said. "He's just, he's going to pour into you as a person, regardless of your status, and, particularly, at his position, he would always take guys and give them extra pointers, coach them up.

"We've been around this for a long time. We've seen some of the great ones; they're self-centered, and this is far from him. He's also that kind of guy where people are going to gravitate towards him."

And because of all that, his leadership showed up, even among peers.

AJ Klein is all of three months younger than Kuechly. They were in the same high school class, and the only reason Kuechly was a year ahead of Klein was by leaving Boston College a year before Klein left Iowa State.

But from the moment they met, Klein felt that older brother vibe.

"As soon as I got drafted and got in there, it was clear how personable Luke is," Klein said. "Obviously, everybody will say the same thing, but Luke is not a person or a guy that has any ego at all. And obviously, him still being a young guy, we're only a year apart; our friendship kicked off right off the bat.

"And he was just a guy that was obviously willing to help me early on, especially when we first got the OTAs and all the things, and He was never, never closed off. Always an open book, and we had a great friendship and a great time playing together for the four years I was there."

Kuechly made it clear to Klein that it was never too late to call or text, and as early as OTAs that first spring, he'd take him up on it. Every time, Kuechly would reply with encouragement, telling him he was going to get it. Klein was new to the NFL and didn't immediately recognize that was uncommon, but the way Kuechly walked through the stadium told him it was just how Kuechly was wired.

"Obviously, I didn't know Luke personally before I got there, but when I got the chance to meet his family, his parents, early on when they came and visited, I mean, it was clear to see why he is the way he is," Klein said. "He was raised in a good family, was taught respect. You could talk about the guys working the security station, coming into the building, the cook staff, the janitors, anybody and everybody in that building got talked to the same, treated with respect.

"And at the end of the day, we're all part of the same team. So, Luke definitely emulated that; he talked to everybody and treated everybody the same."

Safety Tre Boston, who was drafted in 2014 after Kuechly had won defensive player of the year honors in his second season, laughed and said as he made the long walk from the locker room door to the back right corner where Kuechly was stationed so he could genuflect, he realized he was being welcomed into the family.

"But no matter if you were a player who was coming to just a tryout or you were a player drafted, Luke would go out of his way to come to you and meet you and greet you," Boston said. "It makes you feel like one of the boys; it makes you feel like you were one of us. And that was really relieving, you know, with, with so many veterans on that team and guys like himself, it can sometimes be intimidating that you've got to come in and you've got to perform.

"But with those guys, it always felt like, 'Hey, if you just do your job, that is enough for us. All we need you to do is your one-eleventh, and we'll take care of the rest. And truthfully, Luke's going to take care of two or three elevenths."

And that's part of the reason so many people were willing to follow him.

Like every coach who has ever coached him, Wilks also pointed out that if Luke stayed after hours, a lot of other guys were going to stay after hours.

"I mean, it's really another coach talking," Wilks said. " That's the kind of respect that he had."

Kuechly's strongest teaching tool was always his power of example, because the hours he spent on task were legendary.

And that went beyond the linebackers room.

"For sure, you tried to find that secret room that he's sleeping in with the bed, the TV and all that stuff," defensive tackle Kawann Short said with a laugh, but he's still not certain there wasn't one. "Coach (Eric) Washington used to have me coming in at sometimes 7, 7:30 in the morning to get a head start so that I can be one of those guys. And I'm thinking I'm coming in when it's still dark outside, and here is Luke already in the room.

"I'm like, 'This is insane,' and he was doing that free will. It wasn't no coach that was telling him he needed to be in there. It was all a mindset, and he was focused, and you could just see that. What he was doing off the field shows tremendously on the field when, when, when that whistle was blown."

Of course, despite what you may hear over the next few days, Kuechly was sometimes human.

Thompson cackles, literally laughs out loud, when he remembers the time during his rookie year that even Kuechly had limits.

"I remember him falling asleep when we were watching film," Thompson said. "This was probably late in the season we were watching film; he was probably tired. He doesn't go home till like 7 or 8 every night; practice and meetings were over by 4, he literally is in there watching film from 5 to 8, there are hours straight of just film. Going over first and second down, short yardage, red zone, third down, two-minute, end of the game situations. This dude is going over everything, and it's not all in one day, right?

"And one night, you could just tell he was exhausted. And while we were watching film, I just looked over, and his head just started going back, and he woke up. And we just started talking. His head's going back. He's like, 'All right, I'm good. I'm going to get out of here.' I was just looking at him smiling. I was like, 'Yeah, me too. I know you're tired, brother. I know it, but I'm here with you, dog.'

"I know he lives for watching film, and just seeing that, it just shows you that he's also human. He's human, and he needs his rest and all that, but I thought it was pretty cool as a rookie."

But that humanity also reinforced the point. The rookie might have stayed all night, until the vet said it was time to go.

"He's just a leader. He's a born leader," Thompson said. "He's a born winner. He's a born baller, and he got there because of all the preparation, the work, the dedication."

Listening to Thompson talk about the effect Kuechly had on him is real, from that first plate of tacos until the day he found out Kuechly was retiring.

"I was on a plane, and I just started crying," Thompson said. "It felt like I had gotten broke up with. I was heartbroken."

But that's only because of the depth of their relationship, and what it meant to Thompson to be taught by one of the greatest to ever do it.

"That's what leaders have, that kind of impact," former head coach Ron Rivera said. "He set the example. Guys that have that set the example, you know, Jordan Gross set the example. Ryan Kalil set the example, you know, those. With the D-line, you watch KK (Kawann Short) and Charles Johnson set the example of doing things the right way. Kurt Coleman did that for us, but the guy that really was the linchpin was Luke. We had another guy like that, Christian McCaffrey. When Christian came in, he started doing those things right away. Nobody had to tell him.

But it also helps when you have a veteran guy like Luke doing it on his own."

With all of that, Rivera kept thinking during Kuechly's career that he'd inevitably end up coaching (even if it's only middle school football at this point).

"It looked like a guy that was going to evolve into a head coach in the NFL," Rivera said. "I always thought that if he ever wanted to coach, he could coach. And I still believe that if he ever wanted to get in the NFL, he'd be successful because when you're that kind of person, you can set the example, but you can also have the credibility. And when you get up there and tell guys, 'Hey, I'm just telling you this is what you want to be successful, do these things.'"

That communication looked a little different depending on who he was coaching up.

With Thomas Davis, it was tough love. With a Klein or a Thompson or a Ben Jacobs or a David Mayo, it was gentler.

"So him and Thomas have nothing but love for each other, but they're also like brothers, and you know, sometimes brothers do what they argue, and they fuss at each other," linebackers coach Al Holcomb laughed. "So at the end of the day it was always those two against me. I was never right, even though I was right."

But when other young players needed a hand, he was always there.

"My whole mindset was to develop an environment in which these guys love coming to work every day, and it didn't feel like they were coming to work," Holcomb said. "So when Shaq Thompson was drafted, when AJ Klein was drafted, when we got Ben, all these guys, David Mayo, it was just they were just indoctrinated into the culture in that room and into our defense, and they were treated like brothers. They were all treated like brothers, and there wasn't any outcast in that room.

"He connects it. He does bring people together. He does raise the standard, and he's positive. So if he's coaching a teammate or a younger player, he's not sitting there. He's saying, 'Hey, try it this way,' and the way that he approaches them may be different from the way that I approach him. And of course anyone's going to listen to Luke Kuechly, and they're going to try to do it the way that not necessarily maybe he does it, but just maybe bringing a different perspective for the player to see things through a different lens."

Holcomb, now with the Raiders, was in Buffalo last year with the older version of Thompson, the former first-round pick from 2015. And he saw the signs.

"I could see how Shaq matured over the years because we were apart for a few years. I could see how he matured, and I felt the Luke Kuechly presence, the Thomas Davis presence. I felt those things in terms of the leadership and the positivity in terms of how he tried to take younger players under his arm."

Of course, all of this makes Kuechly a bit uncomfortable, because he never thought of himself as any different, as long as you were wearing the same uniform.

"I just learned that from watching the older guys, you know?" He said. "Nothing was an original thought. It was what can be learned from other people, and what do I take that is good, and try to put my own spin on it."

He says that like everyone does it that way.

"I don't know that he would ever think of himself as a mentor if for no other reason than his humility," said longtime teammate and podcast co-host JJ Jansen. "I don't think he feels like he's got a bunch of information to give somebody else. Now, on the field, I think his natural style of play is to communicate, get everybody lined up, tell people what he's seen, not because he wants to show everyone how smart he is, right? It's because That's how the team wins.

"And if I know what's going to happen and I can tell you what's going to happen, we're going to have more success. I don't know that he ever sat down and goes, 'All right, now it's time for me to be a mentor. I need to give this information away.' I think it naturally happened because guys wanted to know what was inside of his head."

Anybody would. And many were shocked to realize they didn't have to ask.