CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers returned to Bank of America Stadium this week for OTAs and WCNC’s Ashley Stroehlein caught up with Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson. The 8-year NFL vet discussed his goals for the upcoming year, how the team is using last year’s disappointing season as motivation and more.
Q: “How's the offseason been?”
A: “It's been good, I mean the offseason is always great you get a little time away from football with the family. Take some vacations. Go back to the West Coast, see some family, nieces and nephews. Just get a little downtime and get away from football. So, the offseason is always great.”
Q: “Now you're back here at Bank of America Stadium. OTAs are underway. What's it like being back with everybody?”
A : “Man, it's just like the first day of school. You come back and see everybody, see the new kids who transferred over, who just moved into the neighborhood. I mean, that's the rookies. Yeah, I mean, they transferred over and moved in. You get to build that team camaraderie again and build that culture. Always great to see my brothers, man. The people I struggle with. Struggle with blood, sweat, tears, fight on the battlefield with. So, it's always good to see them.”
Q: “You mentioned building that culture, obviously on the defense, you guys had a pretty solid unit last year, but you lost some key pieces in free agency between Haason Reddick and Stephon Gilmore. You do get Jaycee Horn back, the team looking at Frankie Luvu to step up and be a starter this year. So how do you kind of keep that unit solid with pieces coming and going?”
A: “I mean, it’s really the same group. Like you said, we got a couple of missing pieces, but everybody's still here. Yeah, I mean, Frankie was a big guy who came on for us during the season and really came on for us after the season. Seeing what he could do, you know what I mean? You can kind of place him any and everywhere, and he's always going to give that effort. You know what you're gonna get out of Frankie. We get big eight back. He was a big guy who helped us the first couple of games, unfortunately, he had his injury, but his mindset and all that is still there. He’s coming to work. I mean, he knows he has a lot to prove. We believe in Him. We trust him. Now he's about to go do it, and I can't wait to see him play.”
Q: “Year eight for you. When you think about your NFL career so far, what are things that you still want to accomplish? And how can you still be better?”
A: “A lot of people will say, even myself, will be like oh Pro Bowl -- Nah, it's not even the Pro Bowl. I want to win games. Last couple years, we haven't been winning. That's the biggest thing – win games once you win games all the other stuff will fall into place. So, the biggest goal for myself is just to find a way to win. It's not about my stats or anything like that. It's not about Pro Bowl. It's just about winning games.”
Contact Ashley Stroehlein at astro@wcnc.com and follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
