NEW ORLEANS – Luke Kuechly will have to wait for a gold jacket.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 was unveiled on Thursday evening, consisting of defensive end Jared Allen, cornerback Eric Allen, tight end Antonio Gates and wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, marking the smallest Hall of Fame class in 20 years. Excluded from the list is the former Carolina Panthers linebacker.
Although he’s disappointed not to be inducted into Canton in his first year of eligibility, Kuechly said he’s honored to even ‘be in that conversation’ and added that he’s ‘excited’ for his time to come one day.
‘It’s exciting. I don’t know about anxious,’ Kuechly told USA TODAY Sports Friday from Radio Row ahead of Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. ‘To get voted in, everything that you’ve done is complete. I got done playing in 2019. Obviously all the work is in. Now at this point, you see if what you did is good enough to get into the Hall of Fame.’
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Many fans believe Kuechly did enough to receive his Hall of Fame call on Thursday, with one social media user labeling his omission as an ‘all-time snub.’ First-ballot finalists Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Adam Vinatieri and Marshal Yanda were also bypassed by the 49-member selection committee.
‘You look at the guys that got in and it makes total sense… It’s good for the game,’ Kuechly said. ‘It’s all guys you played with, played against and grew up watching. So it’s cool to be mentioned in that same category.’
Kuechly was drafted out of Boston College with the ninth overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, where he played his entire eight-year career. He led the league in tackles his rookie season and was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012, in addition to the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. Kuechly earned seven Pro Bowl nods, five first-team All-Pro honors and was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
Kuechly, along with the three other modern-era candidates Vinatieri, Willie Anderson and Torry Holt, will be an automatic finalists in next year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame voting and advance to the final 15.
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