Luke Kuechly, Former NFL Linebacker

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-Track all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Wow, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

Been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world and we get weekly picks from a monkey. Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game of the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz please.

Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm like a big fat wet New York City subway rat. That's how I feel right now. If you just get into your car and you're just tuning into us you're probably like what the heck is wrong with this guy.

If you're watching us on youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio you're probably saying the same thing. I am soaking wet right now. I have the towel over my head.

I look like I just participated in either a swim meet or a boxing match but I'm soaked after we just did the ALS ice bucket challenge. Obviously with Matt Ryan. Appreciate Matt doing that with us.

Definitely a whole lot of fun. Luke Keakley is here with us now joining us live on set. We'll talk about Q Collar in just a second if you're thinking why I'm like crazy looking right now with a towel over my head.

Did you get some water dumped on here or what? I did yeah the ALS ice bucket challenge 10 year anniversary with Matt Ryan. I'm actually I've been a big fan of yours but then I've heard you on the radio a bunch so I do a weekly on one of our affiliates WFNZ with Mac and Bones. They're the best. I love those guys. They're so fun. They're exciting. They're entertaining. They have fun. They enjoy it.

They make it they make it fun to listen to. Yeah because the Panthers haven't as you know they haven't won that many games so it gets tough when you're dealing with with a losing team but man I'm so fired up to have you on the show and appreciate you doing this. You look back at it right a few years removed from your playing career.

You're now here on radio row. I know you had like a little dabble in like the coaching world for a bit when Matt was there but kind of where are you at as you try to kind of find this next chapter post football and I think that's that's the biggest thing you're trying to find it so I'm exploring a lot of different options but what I really enjoy I love the game of football and I've been coaching I've been coaching little kid football with Greg Olsen we've got we have so much fun with it so I do that during the fall I do the radio with the Panthers like I said I'm doing some stuff with Q30 so I'm staying busy I'm trying to find a way to stay around the game and and and share a game with people that I love. So David Wright once told me that he was coaching his his girl softball team yeah it was like like t-ball though version of softball and one of the other dads is coaching and didn't know who David Wright was you know great baseball player and he the the other coach goes I know a thing or two about this game let me show you how to do this and then eventually someone told them it's David Wright I think everyone right probably where you're coaching knows who you are and who Greg Olsen is but have you had any of those situations? No we're good and the one guy that the one guy that makes it happen is his dad his dad Chris Olsen was a long time coach in Jersey a head coach and won a ton of state championships and he's our offensive coordinator and man it is so fun to just to be around those guys and in the passion and the energy we spend so much time trying to figure out ways to win games and set up practice and get ready for it it's a blast and and we're looking forward to do it again this year so I think we're all super super fortunate to have the opportunity to coach these kids and hope they're having a good time as well. I think there's a new wave of football coaches like you look around the the league D'Amico Ryans, Dan Campbell, Antonio Pierce just just guys that are not that far away from playing they're player coaches but sometimes when you say the word player coach or the words players coach it's like oh does he really have the respect of locker room but none of those guys are door mats and and the players all go to bat for them you know is this something because like you were a great leader when you were playing great teammate right everyone like Luke Kuechly is this something now getting a little taste of it that maybe one day you want to be an NFL head coach? I think that coaching would be a ton of fun just to have the ability to I had so many people that helped me when I was playing whether it was players whether it was coaches whether it was strength staff equipment guys trainers I had a ton of help and I think that's the one thing that's cool about coaching is the opportunity to give back and help guys and give guys the opportunity to try to succeed so I'm very I'm very happy right now with what I'm doing with with the youth football side it's a ton of fun I'm still connected with the team in some areas and I just I love the game and coaching I think would be a lot of fun I'm just not at the point right now where I'm ready to do that. Gotcha Luke Kuechly here with us let's talk a little bit about the Panthers we know this year unfortunately was a disaster Bryce Young everyone's going to call him a bus right now I still think that's too early they got to put him in a better situation and there's things obviously that he needs to improve on better but give me kind of your bird's eye view of everything going on with Bryce Young. Yeah well there was there's a lot of turnover last year you know you come in as a rookie quarterback you got a couple different guys calling plays obviously coach Wright we moved on from him early in the season he was he was fantastic a great dude we just we're trying to find ways to win games but you know Bryce Bryce had some moments where I was like man this this guy's the real deal but the one thing that I think he did that that I was really just happy about was his toughness and I think that he's got a great mind for the game he's super accurate his ability to process is is off the charts but the one thing that I think everybody talked a lot about when he was coming out was hey how is his size going to affect his game and his toughness and his resilience and his ability to get hit and get back up and go back out there was was special so Bryce is going to get better we're going to get better I'm excited about what we're doing moving forward we've got a really good common direction you know Dan and Dave I think are going to be fantastic for us and they're going to be really good for Bryce but man Bryce is going to get better this off season he's a great dude never complains and he got up he kept getting up he kept going back out there he never blamed anybody and and I think this is going to be a really good year for him talking to Luke Keakley I just I'm unsure what the panthers are going to be moving forward because I just don't trust David Tepper you know David probably a lot better than than I do but you just hear so many things about him kind of what's your relationship like with the newer still owner of the Carolina Panthers David Tepper super competitive wants to win so he's going to do everything he can to help us win and all the decisions that he's made is is is for us to go to go out and win so we haven't found we haven't found the magic bullet yet but but he he's one of those guys he's been super successful and there's a reason for it's because he's he's competitive he's tough he's smart he's gonna do everything he can to help us go out and win football games and um it's just uh it's just a matter of time for we're gonna do that I get it it's his team he could run the team the way that he wants but it seems like he interferes too much you think he has to kind of find that balance on when to still give his opinion but then also let the football people make the football decisions and I and I think some of it I think some of it is you know you people jump on that train and um I think there's there's some of it that probably gets a little bit blown out of proportion a little bit and um curiosity by him and asking questions isn't a bad thing and for him it's for me it's in him it's I think he loves the game he wants us to succeed he wants to know what's going on and I don't think there's anything wrong with that so he's hired some really good people I think we've done a good job in the front office they did a good job of hiring people Dan and Tillis and obviously Dave Canales and I'm excited for everything so yeah I'll tell you as Luke Kuechly is here with us but Dave Canales you know what he did in Seattle with Gino and what he's done this year with Baker it is a hire that I'm not going to tell you that I think it's a slam dunk great hire I don't think you could also say it's a horrible hire it is one that it draws great curiosity and you kind of just hear him speak in the in the introductory press conference seems like a very easy guy for players to relate to and an easy guy to kind of root for well I think one thing you kind of look at is you know obviously what is the reaction from guys that he's been around right so Gino came out and sent a text out or a tweet out like hey this guy's a stud right all the guys in Tampa that I've talked to quite a few guys just running around here I'm like hey what's the deal with Canales and very all very positive things and not just positive as a coach but positive as a person and I think that's half the battle man football is all about relationships treating people getting people to kind of move towards a common goal being able to motivate people understanding when a guy's having a bad day why is he having a bad day and that all comes down to relationships and everything that I've talked to and all the guys that I've talked to say hey he's a great coach he does this he does that he's going to do everything he can to make sure guys are in the best position that's great but I think what really separates him from what I've talked about with these guys is his ability to connect with the player I got to be able as a head coach to walk in and talk to all 53 guys on the team the coaches the players the equipment guys the training staff the wait staff the practice squad guys and all be on the same page yeah and to have a good person and have somebody that can just relate to people and form relationships I think it's a very positive thing you'll be an NFL head coach when you want to be now we'll see now I'm saying like I feel like not that just an interview you know make someone an NFL head coach but just knowing what you were like as a player and then hearing you now it definitely seems like something I would not be surprised it's just it's the personal part of it because look you put your body on the line right your injury history is well documented and you you've made a lot of money you had a great career everyone associates Luke Keakley with greatness it's just do you want to sacrifice the family stuff because it's very demanding and I love the game of football it's been so good think about think about every everyone in here right now is football has been very good and that's the reason why we're here and I understand that and I love the game and I love talking about it I love being around it and it's it's just fun to be here so I appreciate you having me on yeah all right tell me what you're doing today with Q collar oh so yeah Q collar so I wore it for three years when I was playing a lot of the research was done in Cincinnati we just got FDA approval prior to last season yeah and what we're trying to do is helps help mitigate sub-concussive blows so we're trying to tranquil I know you yeah drew wears one Tony Pollard wears one we've got a bunch of dudes wearing them and it's we're trying to help guys play as long as they want to and not have this to be the reason why they can't play anymore so super simple a little bit of jugular vein compression trying to help guys play longer and mitigate sub-concussive blows so it's been a ton of fun I've known these guys for since 2017 and they're trying to help guys play longer when you look at the game I know that obviously you're very close with Christian McCaffrey but from a whole what stands out to you from the football side of it with this one on Sunday I just you know you look at my homes right and everything that he's been able to do I think he's he's a winner man the guy wins and it's hard to root against him and when he when he's on the field you got a chance to win and I think it's the the marriage between him and Andy Reed is special I think Travis Kelsey is just he's just really good yeah it's really good Pacheco can run the rock and it's a different it's got a little bit different feel than what they've been in the past obviously Pacheco was there last year but he's so physical it opens everything up they can lean on that a little bit obviously I'm a Niners guy right Wilkes is there Christians there I played against Kyle Shanahan since my rookie year when he was in Washington and I love how they play football shifts motions getting guys moving putting your eyes in weird spots I I love them I think they're their skill positions are good and they're they're a very sorry to cut you off but they're a very interesting example of of rookie quarterback on a rookie deal IU, Kittle, Deebo, Christian, Trent Williams on the offensive side of the ball they're just they're special and Brock Purdy man I that dude's fun to watch for all he does is win games all he does is win games and that's the thing with Brock don't get me wrong before the year I've said this now every every segment that we do because it's inevitable that it comes up with Brock before the year I said system quarterback I don't care what people say anymore the dude just wins and as a football player that's all you want to do so who cares what people say about it you can call him whatever you want but you go out there and the dude he wins the Super Bowl that's all that matters dude wins football games he's he's been in the league for two years they've been in the NFC Championship game twice in the Super Bowl once I mean at the end of the day I don't know what else he's in his he's in his second year yeah and only his first full season as a star and yeah you can say what you want about you know he's he's got dudes around him yeah he's got dudes around him yeah he's got a great coach but it's not his fault here's a hot take you need guys around you to win football yeah and you can't just win on your own and I think you know he can sling it around he's got great guys around him but what he does a really good job of is his command for the offense and I was talking to somebody maybe last week there was a play in that Green Bay Packers game it was the big McCaffrey run it was a 45-yard touchdown run right up the middle it's kind of boring looking play but there was they were in like an eye formation Titan was off the ball there was a motion that was supposed to happen and it was going to be a typical Kyle Shanahan motion across motion back just get kind of guy's eyes looking moving a little bit but that the guy went in motion and Brock stopped him said go stand right there and they snapped the ball basically what I'm getting at is if he comes across the formation and returns either it's a delay game or timeout that ball never gets snapped he holds him there the plays still run that exact same way he knows that and he said I just need to get the ball to 23 and 23 is gonna take care of business so he gets the game of football yeah so this is gonna sound cliche but defense wins championships I remember a few years ago Patriots and Eagles Super Bowl as high scoring as it was the biggest play of the game was the Brandon Graham strip sack yeah I'm not saying this game is going to be as high scoring but I do feel like the Niners defense the last two weeks has not played great the Chiefs defense I've been in on them since week three I know it's simple but it's whatever defense in the fourth quarter is going to be able to create a turnover I think yeah create turnovers and get off the field on third down I mean you look with Mahomes his ability to extend on third down how well can we keep him in the pocket make him throw from the pocket and then those dudes in San Francisco that they're paying a ton of money up front got to get there got to get there man with four if they can get there with four I think they got a really good shot you're taking the Niners right man I'm I'm I'm pulling all my boys are there like I said I love how I love how Shanahan does things on the offense side of the ball but Wilkes has had a really good impact on my career obviously when he's in Carolina and then Christian is just he's just special so I'm gonna root for those guys so cam yeah he's never gonna play again right he's over there did you see him yeah yeah yeah he's he's uh he's doing his podcast he just picked me up and I swear he's gonna he is enormous he almost broke me and I'm like yeah man like stop dude you're you're gonna you're gonna break my ribs and he's like stop but I love I love cam you think he still wants to play I think everyone wants but you think he still can't play camp look at him look at him I think he just look at him how he's just we were so lucky to have cam and everything that he did to affect our team was so fun man his energy his passion his competitiveness how much fun he had playing the game and you you watch him on Sundays man and he's like a like an action figure yeah slinging it around running dudes over smiling at people I think when you watch cam the one thing that my dad would always say is why is he he's always smiling he's like stiff arm and a dude in the face he's smiling he's jumping over people into the end zone he's smiling scoring touchdowns he's smiling giving the football to children he's getting sacked he's smiling he's just man anybody that played with cam when you bring his name up they smile and I love the guy he's just he's just one he's one of a kind man yeah he's one of a kind awesome well Luke equally thanks so much appreciate it good to see you thanks so much for coming on and it's Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio I got to change that during the break I'm like soaking wet here so we'll take a time out come on back after these short messages a peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring but the runners-up get nothing one retired cop return that's one retired quarterback read the script oh sorry one retired quarterback returns to claim what's his um that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter but you're on a roll the ring of comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you okay picture this it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road with available h-track all-wheel drive and three-row seating my whole family can head deep into the wild conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details Hyundai there's joy in every journey 2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show well that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is so what exactly is the show about been almost 30 years and I still don't know right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world and we get weekly picks from a monkey do you really need more than that I might just tell you about my bunker game of the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream no schmutz please listen on the odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast