The NFL Network knew exactly who to bring in to talk about this year’s inductees for the Carolina Panthers Hall of Honor.
Thomas Davis, a franchise great and former teammate of both Julius Peppers and Muhsin Muhammad, joined in on Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning Football. His appearance began with his thoughts on his fellow defender in Peppers, who gave a young Davis a quick reality check when he first entered the Panthers locker room in 2005.
“Listen—when I came into the NFL and Julius Peppers was on that team, that was when I knew it was time for me to grow up and grow up fast,” he said. “Because you have a guy that’s 6’7”, 290 pounds, running faster than most of our DBs. I’m like, ‘Man, what world is this that I’m in right now?’
“But Julius Peppers, man, one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet. The most humble guy ever. But he worked extremely hard. He taught me how to become a professional. And that’s one of the things that I looked to Julius a lot on—on his leadership skills on the field.”
The two, at least in Peppers’ first Panthers stint, shared that locker room for five years. But that wasn’t enough for Davis, who admitted that he played a huge role in recruiting the Wilson, N.C. native back home for the final two seasons of his prolific pro career.
Davis’ experience with Muhammad, however, was a tad different. The veteran wide receiver was already off to Chicago by the time Davis got to Carolina.
So instead of playing with Muhammad during his rookie campaign, Davis played against him—literally. TD noted that the Panthers designated him as the “Moose Stopper” in certain packages against the Bears in their 2005 Divisional Round matchup, one in which Muhammad was held to 58 yards on three catches in a 29-21 Panthers win.
Like Peppers, though, Muhammad finished up his career in the black and blue—giving Davis some firsthand experience of No. 87.
“But once he came back to our team, I understood why everybody loved Muhsin Muhammad, why he was the man that he was, why he was the player he was,” he said. “Because he worked extremely hard. And there is no doubt about it—the Panthers got this one right in selecting these guys to go into the [Hall] of Honor because they mean so much to this franchise.”
And maybe one day, Peppers and/or Muhammad will get the chance to speak on Davis and his inevitable induction into the Hall of Honor.
