Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Matt Kalil, who was formerly with the Minnesota Vikings, has a message to send his former team.
Basically, the veteran talent wants the Vikings to know that, now that he is with the Panthers, Matt Kalil is a different guy than the one they might have known.
After being asked about having to deal with Minnesota's wickedly talented Everson Griffen, Kalil responded in kind:
“I’ve played against him a lot, but a lot of those practices I wasn’t 100 percent. I was injured,” Kalil said, via the team’s official website. “So this will be a little bit different from my point of view as far as the things that I can do. I’ll definitely get after it, and I’ll probably be a different guy than they’re used to the past few years.”
Having dealt with serious hip issues over the years, it isn't lost on others how good Kalil was and how he's now starting to return to form. Most notably, his brother.
“He picked a hell of a position to play. That would not be first on my list,” Ryan Kalil said. “You’ve got to have some thick skin to play that position because week in and week out you play against the best of your best. And you’ve got to hope your team is up because if you get behind, you’re in a whole lot of passing situations.
“I watched it here for years with [former Panthers left tackle] Jordan Gross. He gets praised one year, and the next year he doesn’t have it and we need to get rid of him. But really he’s the same guy, and the next year he goes to the Pro Bowl. A lot of it is riding the wave of your team. You’ve got be really good and have a lot of poise to handle that.”
If nothing else, this is important weekend for Carolina. The Panthers will need the best version of Kalil to play.
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