Luke Kuechly is letting his hair grow out in place of a playoff beard

Several members of the Panthers, including Greg Olsen, Ryan Kalil and Ben Jacobs, have been taking part in the playoff beard tradition as Carolina has advanced through the playoffs.

Several members of the Panthers, including Greg Olsen, Ryan Kalil and Ben Jacobs, have been taking part in the playoff beard tradition as Carolina has advanced through the playoffs.

Star linebacker Luke Kuechly would love to join them but he is not as good at growing facial hair as he is at tackling, so he made a deal with his teammates, according to The Charlotte Observer.

• VRENTAS: How Kuechly became a ferocious competitor and a ‘nice boy’

“I tried and it looked terrible,” Kuechly said. “They said all right well if you can’t grow your beard you have to grow the hair.”

Confirmed: Luke Kuechly is growing his hair out for the playoffs because his beard was coming in awfully pic.twitter.com/ipcuZK9RaT

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 28, 2016

Kuechly told The Observer he could not remember when he got his last haircut, but the newspaper studied the defender’s locks and guessed he has let it grow since at least training camp.

– Brendan Maloy