In this week’s edition of NFL PLAYERS: THEY’RE JUST LIKE US, Panthers new linebacker Tahir Whitehead was introduced to the local media Monday from the backyard of his Atlanta home on a Zoom teleconference. Why his backyard?
“I’ve got four little boys in the house,” laughed the soon-to-be-30-year-old. “That’s all you would have heard if I would have stayed inside.”
Yes, as the NFL offseason rolls along – at least the portion that can while teams are ordered to stay home from their facilities – even the press conferences have taken on a different tone. Last week’s introduction to Teddy Bridgewater occasionally suffered from laggy video or lost signal – Whitehead’s had chirping birds as background noise.
Whitehead’s sons – 11, 5, 3 and a newborn who’s less than two weeks old – had driven him to the backyard for the virtual press conference, but the linebacker, who has has started 87 games over his eight year career and eclipsed 100 tackles in each of the last four seasons, says life isn’t all that different for him and his family as they, like the rest of the country, spend most of their days self-quarantined with each other, playing outside or generally enjoying being around their family – except for the occasional awkward conversation about why they can’t go to Chik-Fil-A.
Again, they’re just like us.
With the Panthers face of the defense, Luke Kuechly, retiring in January, the Panthers’ new coaching staff reached out to someone with whom they were already familiar with to fill Kuechly’s very large shoes in the middle of the defense – Whitehead played linebacker at Temple while Rhule was the offensive coordinator. And while Whitehead was coy about whether he’d be playing middle linebacker or on the outside, finding a veteran who had previous worn the defensive headset, which Whitehead had most of his previous stint with the Raiders, was likely a priority to help guide a young defense.
Whitehead, who received welcome messages from leaders in Carolina like Christian McCaffrey and Shaq Thompson shortly after he signed, says he can’t wait to meet his teammates, get somewhat back to to normal and – most importantly – get back to football.
He’s not the only one. Here were some other topics covered during the virtual press conference held Monday afternoon:
On playing Middle Linebacker vs. Outside Linebacker: We haven’t really talked very much about what position I’m going to be playing, exactly, so [we’re] just really waiting to get a chance to talk to the coaching staff, figure out where the position is going to be. But, really, I’m just excited – to have another opportunity to play the game that I love, in a great city, in a great area that really loves football.
Because I can play any position, it hasn’t been something that’s been racking my brain, so I didn’t want to reach out to them and pin them down like ‘Hey, what am I going to play?’ so I’m playing it by ear – I know that I’m pretty much comfortable playing inside or outside and whenever they let me know they want me to play this, I’m rolling with the flow and that’s what I’m going to play.
I’m just trying to get in where I fit in and offer the kind of leadership abilities that I know that I can bring to the table and just continue to work with guys like Shaq and the other guys on the team and go in there and win some football games, because that’s what it comes down to for me, because I don’t think I’ve quite reached my peak yet here and I’m going to make sure I’m going to continue to elevate my game. [I’m going to try] to go out there and make some of the plays that Luke made and I’m definitely going to challenge myself to be a key piece in Carolina the way he did.
Photo Credit: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple
On Matt Rhule: He’s a player’s coach. He’s a guy that you love to play for and just thinking back on our time spent together at Temple, I couldn’t wait to get an opportunity to play for him again.
Matt was extremely vocal, even though he was the OC when I was there – I can’t harp on it enough, he’s a player’s coach. He loves to have fun, loves to keeps guys engaged – he’s innovative in a way to keep guys engaged. He’s going to make sure that he’s getting the best from his team and at the end of the day, all he really asks from you is accountability and taking ownership in your actions. Just be a man about your stuff – being around Matt for 3-4 years at Temple, that’s what I’ve learned about him.
I can recall one practice, we were about to get ready for warmups and then out of nowhere, he comes out with a helmet and shoulderpads on – I remember looking at him like, dang, this guy’s crazy! I forget what player he was going up against, but I’m going to say he was probably twice Matt’s size and he didn’t care. He was like ‘look, you know, we’ve got to show you guys how we’re going to get going – we’re going to push the issue, we believe in toughness’ and he went out there and he just started hitting guys! He got in the middle of the circle, bull-in-the-ring style and going around and ‘butting everybody up.
I was like, ‘OK, this is the type of guy you want to have on your team, that you can go to battle for, because he’s invested in the team.’ He showed exactly that way back when and that just stayed with me ever since.
Did Rhule get knocked down? [laughing] I’m not going to throw my guy under the bus like that, I’m not going to speak to that.
On the linebacking history of the Panthers: First and foremost, over the years, I’ve admired the way they’ve played the game in Carolina. They’ve had a lot of great linebackers play here throughout the years and when I’m watching film, I’d normally dive in and watch TD, Luke or Shaq and the way they play the game. For me, it’s to be able to get in the Panthers uniform and really continue that great linebacker play that’s come through Carolina. I’ve been playing eight years, this’ll be nine years, now – so I’ve been able to make a pretty solid career for myself, playing and being consistent – constantly being available. I just plan to go out there and continue to play my type of football – physical, fly around and contribute to the team in the best way I can.
I would have loved to have played with [Kuechly], that’s one of the guys that I’ve always admired from afar, just watching his game. ‘Damn, it would have been dope if I could have played with Luke.’
Describe your NFL game with one word: Enthusiastic. In everything, you’ve got to be enthused about it, you’ve got to love it.
How he’s training at home during Coronavirus: For the past five years, pretty much, I’ve worked out at home. During the offseason, I try to spend as much time as possible with my family, being that once the season comes around, I’m hunkered down in grind mode as far as being in the facility and getting home late. So I like working out at home [during the offseason] most times anyway, so I’ve pretty much kept at that. I go outside to work on my linebacker drops, just to break a sweat. I jump rope, I have a Peloton, I jump on that and ride for 30 minutes or so – I have a few teammates that try to challenge me on there. I get on the elliptical, I try to change it up as much as I can so I don’t get bored with the process, because at the end of the day, that’s all it is is a process. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your high school training room, or in your basement or if you’re in a top-notch training facility, the work still has to be done. You have to find a way to get it done.
Other reason he signed in Carolina: I played in Carolina one time in my career, when I was with Detroit. And just the atmosphere – it was just that close-knit of a team, I heard nothing but great things about being in Carolina. Mike Adams, he’s one of my close friends, he was like, ‘man, you’re going to love it there,’ so even afterwards, I’ve had multiple people hit me up about how much I’m going to love it there. I think a big part of it was that it’s close to home [in Atlanta], so having my family [close], that was big for me.
On wearing the #59, which he’s worn his whole career: I haven’t even thought about it too much. Even prior to my rookie year, getting the number 59 – [there] was nothing that really went into having the number. At this point, it would just be that that’s the number I’ve been able to wear my whole career. But we haven’t really talked about it – I know Luke wore it – obviously, he’s a great guy, great player and all-around, it would be different for people to see me wearing it and everything, but at the end of the day, we’re going to see how that goes and just go from there.
I’m not too hung up on the number, I’m just ready to get out there, start training, be around the fellas, my teammates, the coaching staff and just start understand the scheme and go out there and win some games.
(Top Photo Via USA Today Sports Images)
