Luke Kuechly option to be exercised

PHOENIX -- The Carolina Panthers plan to exercise the fifth-year option on middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, general manager Dave Gettleman said Tuesday.

"I'd have to have brain damage not to," Gettleman said during a break in the NFL owners meeting.

The 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year is entering the final year of his rookie contract that gives him a 2014 salary cap number of about $4 million. By exercising the option Kuechly will be tied up through the 2016 season. His salary next season will be the average of the 10 highest-paid middle linebackers, which currently is about $7.5 million.

Kuechly has started all 48 games since Carolina made him the ninth pick of the 2012 draft out of Boston College. He had an NFL-best 153 tackles last season, and has 473 overall in three seasons.

The Panthers have until May to actually exercise the option. That does not preclude the team from negotiating a long-term deal with a player Gettleman considers a "core'' member of the team.

Kuechly would be the second player the Panthers have exercised the fifth-year option on in the past year. The team used that option last season on quarterback Cam Newton, the No. 1 pick of the 2011 draft, whose contract expires after this season.

Carolina hopes to sign Newton to a long-term deal, but Gettleman would not speculate on whether that will get done before the 2015 season.

"We'll see how this plays out,'' Gettleman said. "The thing that you like is cost certainty. I'm looking for cost certainty. Time will tell.''

If the Panthers don't re-sign Newton prior to the end of the season, the team won't have cost certainty because he will become a free agent.