Luke Kuechly is one of the all-time great Carolina Panthers, and he’s one of the best linebackers in the history of the NFL.
Just this summer, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Now, he’s got a new gig. He’s the color commentator for Netflix’s NFL broadcasts this season, alongside play-by-play man Noah Eagle.
Kuechly has media experience. He has called football games for CBS Sports Network, and he has also worked as a commentator on Panthers radio broadcasts.
On Thursday night in Week 1, which is really Friday morning where the game is being played in Australia, Kuechly is on the mic for Netflix as the Los Angeles Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers.
While it’s not surprising that Kuechly caught attention and earned this gig, it’s still quite the position for a relatively unproven broadcaster, who played linebacker and not quarterback, to be given.
How Did Luke Kuechly Get Netflix Job?
Kuechly earned his gig thanks in part to a July addition alongside Noah Eagle, who was already set to be Netflix’s play-by-play guy.
“It was unquestioned that his knowledge for the game was an elite level,” Eagle told Awful Announcing. “I just watched him as a player, and you can see that one, the knowledge for the game is clear, but also the preparation going into each week, and that’s what he brought with him to the audition. We called a game from last season, sat down, and immediately, he just, it was as if he could see things happening before they happen.”
To be fair, Kuechly’s knowledge of football was never in qusetion.
Some of the best players ever in various sports have struggled when put on television broadcasts, though.
“That’s the question mark for somebody who’s never really done it, but when we sat down, he was comfortable fast,” Eagle told Awful Announcing. “You get into a rhythm, and then you just let it rip, and then I think the last part was personality, where this is the other unknown. The player stuff, when guys are film junkies to the level that he was, and that’s what he was known as, somebody who lived in the film room, when you have all that stuff, we already knew that the question marks are the comfortability and the personality, and I think him showing his personality was really what sold everybody, and his willingness to rally back and forth and joke around when it was the right time for it, but then get serious when it was the right time for that.”
Kuechly will be a familiar name to a lot of football fans, but certainly less so than someone like Tom Brady or J.J. Watt.
That shouldn’t be a problem, though, because at the end of the day, Netflix will simply want Kuechly to do a good job.
How Greg Olsen Helped Luke Kuechly
Kuechly was a teammate in his playing days with tight end Greg Olsen in Carolina. Olsen is now Fox’s No. 2 color commentator on a crew with Joe Davis, behind just the Kevin Burkhardt-Tom Brady duo.
That apparently helped Kuechly in this process, too.
“We all know that he’s very close with Greg Olsen, and Greg has quickly become, in many people’s opinion, the best analyst doing this right now, but certainly in the discussion for that title,” Eagle told Awful Announcing. “He’s similar. I did the first year of Netflix with Greg, and you can see the similarities: one, how they see the game, two, the passion for the game, but certainly it almost feels like a doctorate in football when you’re talking to them, and Greg is like a beautiful mind of football in many ways.”
Netflix has the rights to five NFL games in the 2026 season: the Australia game, a game the night before Thanksgiving, two games on Christmas and a Week 18 clash yet to be determined.
Kuechly will get a chance to improve and put his name into the discussion of potential rising stars in color commentary.
How Luke Kuechly Got Netflix NFL Broadcasting Job