CHARLOTTE — Taylor Moton isn't really into milestones. He doesn't think much about historical context. (Which is weird since most dads love history.)

For the 30-year-old Panthers right tackle, the most important step is the next one, and it always has been. He doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about the scope of his career, and would rather talk about someone else's.

So the fact he's about to start his 100th straight game for the Panthers — no one has ever started more consecutive games — isn't something he even really realized or spent a second thinking about, and doesn't quite know how to describe.

"Not too much," he said when asked if he had considered the importance of his streak. "I'm more of an on to the next one, get ready for the next day, next game kind of guy, right?"

Correct. And that may be why he's standing here today.

And it's not just that he's started 99 games in a row; he's done it without missing a snap.

Since taking over as the starter at the beginning of the 2018 season, he's played 6,507 offensive plays in a row. That's a stunning number.

He receives that news in the way you would anticipate.

"I mean, I guess it means a lot," he said with a shrug. "I know I'm just happy I could be healthy for the team and do whatever I can for my teammates, this organization, this community, and just be there and work to be at my best and available."

That's a rather understated reaction to something that's very rarely done in the NFL. For every player such as Browns Hall of Fame tackle Joe Thomas — who played 10,363 consecutive snaps — it's far more common for one little thing to break up an ironman streak.

For Cam Newton, it could be getting hit by a car (2014) or not having a tie on the team plane (2016), as he started 130 games but never more than 48 in a row. For other players, an illness or a minor injury (or a major one) can derail a streak.

Jordan Gross is the franchise's all-time leader with 167 starts, but after the first 84, he was inactive for a game because of a concussion and then started another 20 before a broken ankle landed him on IR.

Moton's streak of 99 straight starts is already the longest consecutive starts streak here, ahead of Mike Minter (94), Gross (84), Greg Olsen (82), and Julius Peppers (78). He's played in 115 straight games, and will move to second on the team's all-time consecutive games played list this year if he stays on the field.

Panthers all-time top 5, consecutive games played

So, Moton considers himself most of all fortunate, and everyone who has discussed his achievement starts looking for something wooden to knock on.

Veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson just shook his head in amazement. He's started 108 games in his career here but has only played every game in a season once. So he admires Moton's good luck but said it goes far beyond that.

"That lets you know what type of player he is, whether he's healthy or hurt, you know what I mean?" Thompson said. "He's going out there and he's giving it all for his team and his brothers. And that's big. That mentality, like, damn, that's a dog mentality. I mean, 100 starts, that's a blessing."

"That is incredible. That's an incredible feat," guard Brady Christensen said. "He's a perfect example of just being a pro. It's crazy. I just don't even know how to compute that.

"I mean, just playing one whole season straight is incredible. It's a great feat, but six years of that in a row at that consistency at that level with all the change, all the turnover. It's incredible."

Christensen would know. He started and played every snap in 2022 before he broke his ankle in New Orleans, and after an offseason of rehab, came back and tore his biceps tendon in last year's opener. Those are the kinds of things that happen.

Long snapper JJ Jansen has played in 243 straight games, but snapping five or six times a game is very different than what Moton is doing, and Jansen is the first to acknowledge that.

"There's been so many times just in my little world where I got a jammed finger, I took a shot, and I needed 25 minutes on the sideline praying that we didn't punt or kick a field goal because I was trying to put my body back together," Jansen said. "And these guys go out and they deal with all kinds of pain and stuff and they just kind of grit their teeth and they're snapping a ball 40 seconds later.

"It's unbelievable. It's super, super-impressive. One of the honestly more impressive things that I've seen, because at that position, the expectation of the physicality that's required is so, so high. But that just also speaks to the mentality of all those guys, right? You see that stuff all the time. Brady last year in Atlanta tears his bicep and finishes the game, and no one really even knows since those guys all do it. So what T-Mo has done is really, really special."

Of course, it's also not accidental.

The folks on the athletic training staff use words like "professional," "diligent," "consistent," and "dedicated" to describe the way he works to keep his body well. And "amazing."

And Moton's quick to thank all of them for their support, a dozen or more by name, and giving special mention to athletic training intern Dean Puranovic — "My main man, my point man," Moton said.

And that kind of attention to detail and sincere gratitude is part of what makes Moton so special to so many people here.

"They're awesome, and it's hard to claim they're the best in the business when this is the only place I've been, but I do in my heart believe they are, and I couldn't ask for a better group," he said of the "village" of people who help keep him well. "They've played a very pivotal role in the fact that I haven't missed a snap or missed a game, at least since I got here.

"They do a wonderful job of studying and making sure they accommodate us and make sure I have everything I need and get the proper amount of snaps and work with me to make sure that I'm as fresh and ready to go as possible come game day."

Of course, there are accommodations. Moton practiced fully this week, but he'll generally get a day off from practice per week to keep himself ready for the part that matters. Calling it a day off is misleading, though, since he's in early getting therapeutic work, stretching, working — and sweating.

Assistant athletic trainer Katy Rogers understands the gratitude — she's been on the other side of many Moton hugs — but joked that "he always hugs us when he's the sweatiest."

They're not the only ones. He's got a fatherly vibe around the place, encouraging teammates to pick up their own towels in the locker room and doing everything he can to support and protect his teammates. You know, being a good role model.

"I just think the consistency of his routine, his consistency of doing the work," Christensen said with a tone of reverence. "Like he's just the same guy day in and day out, no matter what's going on, what's going on in the team, what's going on with coaching staff. Like, he is just the same guy every single day. It's amazing."

"What T-Mo has done is really impressive and all the leadership qualities that he has to also hold up while playing," Jansen added. "Like it's easier to just play your snaps and not really be a leader and just kind of be in your world. Having a leadership quality is an added challenge and really a testament to who he is."

Of course, getting him to admit any of this is practically impossible. He usually sits quietly in his corner of the locker room, never seeking out much attention. If you ask a few questions, he'll thank you for stopping by.

He really is kind of the dad of the locker room, and you're tempted to say granddad except he's not Jansen kind of old, and he's still playing at a really high level. But he also has poured himself so fully into the job that asking him to describe it presents a challenge because he's always so grounded that it's hard for him to see past his stance.

That football cliche about "be where your feet are?" He's the walking definition of it.

"You've got to be in the flow state," Moton said. "I don't know about every other position. I've only played O-line at this level. But it's the fact that you have to be consistent play after play because if you're off one play, that can lead to a disaster. So, you know, I take that very seriously.

"I have to take every play very seriously; that starts the beginning of the shoot, the offseason really, just doing everything you can to make sure you're mentally where you need to be, to be able to be at your best for 60, 70-plus snaps a game, every game. So that's part of it. And I love it, and like I said before, I'm so happy that I've been able to do it all these years here as a Panther. It's been neat."

Yes, he actually used the word "neat." He really is the dad of the locker room, and he'd probably be at a hardware store this morning if he wasn't getting ready to fly to New Orleans.

"He's got dad energy for real," Jansen said. (And he would know.)

But this maturity isn't even something Moton's picked up lately since turning 30 during training camp.

"I think even in college, my coach was big into preaching just stay stoic, stay in the present, and only worry about the present," Moton said. "Don't be concerned about the future. So really, I didn't give it much thought to what it'd be like to be going into Year 8 now. So, it is crazy.

"Would I ever thought I'd be doing it? I don't know sometimes. But it's a blessing, and it's something I don't take for granted. And I'm blessed to still be a Panther and blessed to be a leader in the locker room and help some of the young guys out and pass on some of the wisdom I've learned over the years."

Moton is not a big talker, but get him thanking people, and he has the stamina to equal what he does on the field. He also uses the word "blessed" a lot if you haven't noticed.

"I've been blessed to have some really good guys along the way, teach me how to be a pro and teach me what it means to be a Panther," he began, mentioning Daryl Williams, who was an All-Pro guard during Moton's rookie year. "I mean, shoot, just watching him work. On the field, the way he played, I said, if I can play like him, I know I'll be OK."

He then rolled through Ryan Kalil ("the attention to detail he had in his work"), Luke Kuechly ("his intensity, how much the game meant to him"), Julius Peppers, Thomas Davis, Greg Olsen, and Cam Newton and more.

"The list goes on and on about some of the greats that I've been blessed to play with and just learn from," he said.

The part Moton doesn't mention is that he's on that list, too. Because he does the things he has to do every day to keep showing up, playing well, leading, being the dad of this bunch, and giving out big, sweaty hugs to people who may or may not always want them but always appreciate him.

"I'm happy to hear that he's going into his 100th start," Thompson said with a nod of respect, one dad to another. "It shows you a lot; it just shows you that he's the guy."