Curhan & Carolina Seek Postseason Run

The NFL has never been a more powerful, lucrative, and popular institution, delivering nonstop entertainment to tens of millions of viewers and spectators. However, what often gets overlooked amidst the skyrocketing TV ratings and eyepopping revenue numbers is that many of those who make everything possible toil in anonymity, don’t necessarily make extravagant salaries, and punch in to work every day knowing they are one injury away from never seeing another NFL paycheck.

It’s a predicament that offensive linemen, in particular, know all too well. And earlier this month, Jake Curhan, a Jewish tackle/guard for the Carolina Panthers, his fourth NFL team in five years, took some time to share with the AJT what goes on behind the scenes of an NFL organization.

Curhan came over to the Panthers from the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad in early October after playing for the Chicago Bears in 2024. Thus far, he’s been impressed with the organization, from the principal owner, Jewish hedge fund manager David Tepper, who regularly walks through the locker room to greet newly acquired players, to the coaching staff, spearheaded by head coach Dave Canales. The players are respected, treated like the adults that they are — a dynamic that isn’t always present in other NFL organizations.

“There’s a lot of buildings in this league where you’re clocked in and clocked out, and every hour you’re in the building, it’s like life or death, the most serious thing,” explained Curhan. “One thing that Dave [Canales] does a good job of is making sure that we’re competing and having fun at the same time, too, because at the end of the day, it is a game and it is something that’s supposed to be fun and celebrated. I think that sort of leadership style lends itself towards guys wanting to play harder.”

Since Curhan came aboard a couple months ago, the Panthers have entered the NFC playoff picture and are currently in a dogfight with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for NFC South supremacy. In gunning for their first postseason appearance since January 2018, the Panthers have pulled off a couple stunning upsets over the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams. While fans may be surprised when heavyweights go down, generally speaking, NFL players are aware that the league’s robust parity is on full display every time the ball is snapped.

“I feel like you don’t realize until you’re in an actual NFL building how good every single opponent you play is, despite their record and how good the players are on the other side. It’s not like college where there are some games when you know a team’s winning — it’s just a matter of how much. In the NFL, every time the ball’s kicked off, it can really go either way, depending on who’s playing well that day,” said Curhan, a native Californian who played his college football for the Cal Golden Bears last decade, during which time he acquired the nickname, “Bear Jew.”

There’s an unspoken tenet in NFL circles that the National Football League’s acronym stands for “Not for Long,” given how teams sign and release backup players and special teamers every week. Most careers don’t span more than a half-decade, simply because of the game’s inherent physical dangers that take a considerable toll on its practitioners. In this sense, Curhan’s a bit of an outlier, having broken in with the Seattle Seahawks in 2021, for whom he played three seasons, and now still gainfully employed as a five-year veteran.

“You’ve got to carve out a role for yourself if you want this to be a job that you do for more than a couple years,” said Curhan, 27, who’s a right tackle by trade, but has been versatile enough to also play both guard spots in the interior of the Panthers’ offensive line. “I’ve been able to do that over the five years I’ve been playing. The more you can do is definitely an asset in terms of your longevity.

However, Curhan’s 2025 season is like that of many NFL players in that he’s had to adjust to a new workplace — one that happens to be on the other side of the country — midway through the grind of the regular season.

“It’s always difficult to learn a new playbook,” admitted Curhan, who already in his short time in Carolina has drawn heaping praise from starting quarterback Bryce Young. “Luckily, I have familiarity with a lot of the offensive coaches from my first couple years in Seattle. That part made that a little bit easier.

“On the offensive line, it’s all about communication and being on the same page. Some of the unspoken things that I think these guys have gotten to build up through the offseason and the first couple weeks of the season — that took me a little bit of time to catch up on.”

Though not a frequent participant in primetime games, the Panthers played in front of the entire country when they battled the San Francisco 49ers on ESPN’s, “Monday Night Football,” in late November. During the broadcast, Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-celebrity broadcaster Troy Aikman actually mentioned Curhan during one sequence — a relatively rare occurrence for offensive linemen who go to work in the trenches. But interestingly, even when they get national exposure, many NFL players don’t pay much — or any — attention to what some of the game’s most esteemed experts are saying.

“I don’t really watch the TV copies, so I don’t know if they’re saying something good or something bad about me,” shared Curhan. “I feel like the more years I’ve done this, the less I want to hear either the good or bad things people are saying about me.”

Aikman, like the rest of the NFL, of course only had good things to say about Curhan, who’s emerged as an offensive line mainstay for the upstart Panthers while beautifully representing the Jewish community.