Another year, another set of honors for two familiar Carolina Panthers.
The league announced Tuesday that 2019 will mark the fourth consecutive year Carolina will send guard Trai Turner and inside linebacker Luke Kuechly to represent the NFC at the Pro Bowl in Orlando – this will actually be the sixth consecutive honor for Kuechly, who will now have gone to the Pro Bowl the most of any player in a Panthers uniform, surpassing Ryan Kalil, Julius Peppers, Steve Smith and Michael Bates, who had each gone five times.
The Panthers captain has posted 124 tackles, two sacks, five passes defensed and one interception as well as 19 tackles for loss, which is good enough for the most in franchise history with two games remaining on the schedule – that’s the most for a linebacker since 2014. Since he came into the league, Kuechly has more interceptions (17) and takeaways (24) than any other linebacker in the NFL and his 942 ranks as the most tackles of any player over their first seven seasons in NFL history – he even made a late push with 13 on Monday night against the Saints, including six in which he traveled 20 or more yards to get his man.
Turner’s fourth selection is the second-most among any Panthers’ offensive lineman behind Ryan Kalil; he’s helped anchor an offensive line that has paved the way for the third-best rushing attack in the NFL, the league’s best rushing average at 5.32 yards per carry and the second-most rushes over 10 yards in the league.
While Christian McCaffrey was not nominated, he was selected as an alternate – McCaffrey, who has a chance to finish as the third player in NFL history with 1,000 yards in both the rushing and receiving categories along with 100 receptions – he also added a 50-yard touchdown pass in Monday’s game, becoming the first player since Walter Payton in 1985 to have 50 yards passing, rushing and receiving in a single game.
The three players selected ahead of McCaffrey – Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott and Todd Gurley – are the three NFC running backs with more yards from scrimmage on the season.
Defensive tackle Kawann Short was also selected as an alternate.
Players for the game are determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third toward determining the 88 All-Star players who will be selected to the Pro Bowl.
The 2019 Pro Bowl presented by Verizon kicks off at 3:00 PM ET on January 27.
