Luke Kuechly has admitted that he has had to make lots of adjustments to his game since entering the NFL.

The Carolina Panthers linebacker was named the defensive rookie of the year last season, and has 75 tackles, a sack and three interceptions so far in 2013.

The 22-year-old told reporters: "There were a bunch of adjustments. I think if you would have, if the season would have started on day one of OTAs, I would have been all over the place. I didn't really know what was going on right away, but it was a process.

"I think the biggest thing for me was I had some older veteran guys around me that first year. James Anderson, Thomas Davis, Jon Beason, and Jordan Senn were a couple guys that really took me under their wing and showed me kind of how things were done.

"There are corrections almost on every play. A guy out of a gap here, a guy luckily made a play to cover him up and you cover up for him. But there's always something to look at on each play, and that's the thing that we need to keep doing, is looking at what we need to improve."

The Panthers face the New England Patriots this weekend.