Lets get this out of the way: we don’t know what Julius Peppers or Thomas Davis are going to do – after the final home game of 2018 for the Carolina Panthers, Davis didn’t speak to the media and Peppers smiled his way through avoiding multiple questions about what his plans were for next season.
But while Davis, who said last January that he planned to retire before walking back that proclamation for most of the preseason and regular season, has wavered and Peppers has been careful to avoid the topic, 33-year old center Ryan Kalil has continuously confirmed that the 2018 season would be his last – the 2007 second-round pick who has gone to five Pro Bowls and been named to two All-Pro teams wanted to go out on his own terms.
After missing 18 games in the seasons prior to this one, Kalil has played over 97% of the snaps and started every game in 2018 as the Panthers have rushed their way to the third-most rushing yards in the league.
“A lot of guys, they don’t get to leave when they want to leave, how they want to leave,” said guard Greg Van Roten, who has played next to Kalil this season. “So for him to come back after all he’s battled through the last few seasons and to play every game at the level he’s played, it’s impressive. Ryan’s always said he’d rather leave a year too early than stay a year too late.”
Van Roten knows a little bit about Kalil – the elder lineman taught Van Roten how to play center, albeit by proxy.
When Van Roten entered the league in 2012, he’d never played center – so his offensive line coach in Green Bay put some tape on of a player he considered the model for how to be a quality center in the NFL.
If you haven’t guessed already, that tape was of Ryan Kalil.
“To come here last year and just to be around him and learn from him, it was surreal. And then to play next to him, it was awesome. He’s a guy that has done a lot of work to instill a certain culture in this team and in this o-line room and his experience and presence is invaluable. You can’t replace it. Hopefully, without him next year, we can keep the tradition going and I’m going to miss him.”
“It’s hard to put into words what he’s meant to this team.”
Kalil has many legacies inside the Panthers organization – perhaps the NERF basketball tournament that’s held every training camp or the legendary video poking fun at Cam Newton will stand out, but likely it will be Kalil’s role as the offensive lineman with the second-most starts in franchise history and a key voice in the locker room that will paint Kalil’s legacy as he heads into retirement on his own terms – but a loss by two scores in his final home game is certainly not how he pictured it.
“It’s not how I wanted to remember it, but I’m just very appreciative to all the fans,” Kalil said, holding his son Cade in his arms in the locker room after he waved goodbye to a mostly empty Bank of America Stadium as he walked into the tunnel for the final time. “This community has been great to me and my family, and I leave this place with a full heart.”
“I leave this place with a lot of great memories. I’m very blessed and just thankful to a lot of people that helped me get there.”
Kalil will likely retire as the best interior offensive lineman – the former All-Pro has only 24 penalties in 142 career games and has never had more than three in a single season – and a six-time captain of the Panthers; interior linemen don’t often get the accolades – it’s hard to quantify how much Kalil has meant to the Panthers, but you could probably start with the fact that Carolina has led the league in rushing since Kalil entered the league in 2007. However you’d like to quantify Kalil’s impact in Charlotte, it’s the admiration from his teammates that may best show his value to the Panthers organization.
Ryan Kalil celebrates the ending of the first 2018 Training Camp Practice
“I don’t think people understand what he’s meant to this team and to this football program. He truly is the heart and soul of our team,” said Christian McCaffrey. “There’s not a better leader out there, there’s not a better person out there; he’s a role model in every single way, his accolades and his football plays speak for themselves, but as a friend as a father to his kids [and] as a husband, he’s a salt-of-the-earth kind of human being and that’s going to be a tough one to say goodbye to.”
Perhaps Peppers was able to sum up the longtime center best.
While Kalil speaks to the media in long, verbose paragraphs that seem as if they’ve been rehearsed – that’s likely what helped lead him to win the Pro Football Writers of America Annual Tom Berry Good Guy Award, given to the player in the Panthers’ locker room who most helps the media to do it’s job – Peppers’ always measured and sincere voice expresses his thoughts succinctly.
He had his answer ready when he was asked about Kalil and his impact on the Carolina Panthers.
“He means everything.”
