Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis has been a fixture on the Panthers defense for the better part of a decade. The 34-year-old was once again an integral part of a unit which remained one of the very best in the league this season.

But as Bryan Strickland of Panthers.com reports, Thomas admits his role on the team next season might not be quite as big as it was this year.

“Being in my 13th year, I'm pretty sure coming back next year that it will be in a reduced role,” said Davis, who is under contract through next season. “Shaq (Thompson) has definitely earned the right, and when you look at (David) Mayo, he's coming along. Obviously, we still have Luke (Kuechly) here who is playing at an extremely high level. So we'll see. We'll see how it goes.”

While Davis is not conceding to being a backup just yet, he admits the past season was a “tough year” for him due to injuries which caused his performance to drop a bit.

Davis still played close to 800 snaps and recorded 76 tackles in 15 games this season. However, those numbers were noticeably lower than in past years. Prior to this season, he had recorded 100 tackles in each of the last five years and played 1,000 snaps in each of the past two.

Luckily for the Panthers, they do have a promising young linebacker in Thompson ready to step up in Davis’ place. The 23-year-old Thompson has consistently seen his snap count rise in each of his first three years on the team and had a career-high 61 tackles this past season.