Carolina Panthers legend Luke Kuechly will work as Netflix’s No. 1 NFL game analyst as the streamer airs a five-game package this season for the first time.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Kuechly, a linebacker slated to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, auditioned earlier in July with NBC’s Noah Eagle, who is expected to be the top NFL play-by-play voice for Netflix this season. The pair “showed immediate chemistry,” per Marchand, leading the streamer to select him for its refreshed broadcast booth. Netflix, Marchand added, had hoped to hire a fresh voice for color commentary this season after borrowing analysts from other networks in 2024 and 2025.
Expanding from its NFL Christmas GameDay doubleheaders the past two seasons, Netflix has added a game in Australia during the opening week of the season as well as a “Thanksgiving Eve” game in November and a Saturday-night game in Week 18. The Christmas doubleheader will require a second broadcast team in addition to the Eagle-Kuechly booth.
Unlike some previous summers, the top two NFL booths at both Fox and CBS are locked, as are the Thursday, Sunday and Monday night teams at Prime Video, NBC and ESPN, respectively. That left ESPN’s No. 2 booth and Netflix’s crew as the only question marks during the offseason.
ESPN will seemingly cycle between Jason Kelce, Kurt Warner and Louis Riddick for the eight NFL games it airs outside the Monday Night Football schedule. With Kuechly, Netflix is bringing in a newcomer for its booth, closing the transaction cycle for NFL game broadcasters for now.
Eagle and Kuechly will debut Sept. 10 from Melbourne, as the Rams face the 49ers.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.