Pro Football Focus released their Top 101 players from 2016, which ranks based on their performance from only that season. The Panthers only had three players on the list with Luke Kuechly the highest at 48th. This was a significant drop from his ranking of third in 2015.
PFF wrote about the Panthers starting middle linebacker:
Only missed time keeps Luke Kuechly this far down the list, as for the second season in a row he missed games for the Panthers. Kuechly only played 656 snaps in 2016, but still posted the second-best grade among all linebackers, earning a mark of 92.