Julius Peppers: A Carolina Tragedy

[L-TownCat]

1 hour ago, Paa Langfart said:

Still waiting for the dramatic conclusion.

It's a better effect if it just ends abruptly with no closure.

Perfect metaphor.

[Devin]

14 hours ago, NJPanthers12 said:

14 hours ago, top dawg said:

The tragedy is ungrateful Huddle curmudgeons that revel in revisionist history and  piss on players who didn't have a "clean" break up from the organization, which most times was arguably more of a FO problem than a player problem.

Smartest and most accurate thing I have ever read on these boards.

ya might wanna check out the tinderbox every once in awhile if that's the case 

[electro's horse]

The Funeral

2007 was a hilarious poo show for the Panthers, but it was completely forgettable for Julius Peppers. Rumors began swirling he was hiding an STD, syphillis being the one usually hinted at. He looked sluggish and disinterested on the field. In the locker room, players had stopped talking to him. Kris Jenkins was out the door the second the season ended. Mike Rucker knew he was toast as well. John Fox still gave Peppers his cool detachment, and went out after every game to tell the press Peppers was actually playing really hard, but they hadn't looked at the tape yet and it is what it is.

Had this performance happened in the twitter age, Peppers effort would have been covered more aggressively. However, the press were a dying breed, and the surviving ones had more glaring embarrassments to cover at the time...

But Peppers was sending a message loud and clear. He wanted out, he wanted to be cut, and he was willing to force it if he had to. 

I don't know if the calls started coming in the preseason or what, but I know for a fact the Patriots started sniffing around at this point. They had already acquired Adalius Thomas, but Belichick could always smell a deal. They were also asking about Steve Smith. Most of you don't remember this but the drum to bang Smith banged basically through all of 2007 and 2010, both time it being the Patriots who showed interest. If Belichick and Hurney didn't hate each other, I think it would have happened. 

Anyway, with the end of 2007, basically the entire super bowl core was gone from 2003, and that suited Julius just fine. The entire social dynamic of the team shifted towards the younger players. Guys like DeAngelo (back then), Beason, and Kalil established themselves as the future of the team. On defense, this was Thomas Davis and Beason's team (and it's really difficult to overstate just what a force Thomas Davis was even back then in the locker room). While all of them still saw what Jenkins and Rucker had seen in the film room, they couldn't really say anything. At least not yet. Peppers was the veteran. He had the big contract. Fox was on his side. They remained silent, and Peppers planned his escape. 

2008 was the final year of Peppers' contract, and he and Carey knew the Panthers were going to have to make some hard choices. Hurney had Gamble and Gross' contracts to worry about as well. Following 2007, the Panthers offered Peppers a new contract, and in the process tried to make him the highest paid defender of all time. Peppers declined, knowing he could turn it back on and become maybe the biggest free agent in NFL history. 

For whatever reason, Chris Gamble was given a contract extension during the season. Julius had a classic contract year season, posting a career high in sacks while replacement level players like Tyler Brayton and Damione Lewis flailed around uselessly around him. Numerous times during the season he was approached by Hurney, but he wouldn't agree to a contract. Julius' message was clear: let me walk or tag me. After the season, at the 11th hour, Hurney slightly overpaid for Gross and tagged Peppers.

It was the move that doomed Hurney's career. 

Again there were trade offers, and again they were turned down. I think Hurney would have done it if someone had offered him a first, but no one was willing to give up more than a third for Peppers. For leverage in upcoming contract negotiations, Hurney traded a 2010 first round pick to move up and grab Everette brown, an undersized nothing of a player who barely ever played. 

2009 was a trash fire. Everyone got old over night. I'm not going to go in to it. 

Heading into the offseason, the question wasn't whether or not Peppers was gone, but whether the Panthers would get anything out of losing their best player. To tag him again would have been ridiculous; something like 20 million dollars, and certainly not a check richardson was going to cut while preparing to lead the lockout charge. If that didn't make it difficult to trade him, Peppers' actions certainly did.

Julius came out and announced he wanted to play as a standing 3-4 outside linebacker, and that he'd only accept a trade to Dallas or New England. Anywhere else, he wouldn't sign a long term contract, and would leave after one season. Sign and trades always dependent on an extension in place on the other end, and this killed any chance of that happening. Additionally, no team was going to give up anything for a player demanding to play a new position. 

Peppers wanted out, he wanted out on his own terms, and he wanted to make sure the Panthers couldn't get anything out of it. 

About 10 seconds after free agency started, Peppers agreed to the deal Carey had already worked out with the Bears. It was the largest in NFL history for a defensive player, though still less than what Hurney had offered him a year prior. Carey got what he wanted, with a cool 7 million dollar commission, and now he had his big market to pitch Julius as a marketing icon. Chicago got the player they felt they needed to push them over the top. Carolina got nothing. 

[truthjuice]

Lol, y'all still want him back though? 

[raleigh-panther]

9 hours ago, RoaringRiot said:

For the entertainment they provide. For the emotions they make us feel as sports fans. For allowing us to have a hobby that provides passion in our lives and for some an escape from "real world realities". 

There is enjoyment.

There is appreciation for athlete's ability 

There is gratitude for my health and or the Doctor who may have saved my life with skill

 Football is on such a lower scale.  I cannot ever imagine gratitude and football going together. 

[Ricky Spanish]

I've gotten the same vibe from Chicago fans that many around here have about Peppers, and that's they don't much care for him. They say the same things we did - He took plays off, he didn't use full effort, he was a mercenary, etc. 

For everything he has managed to accomplish in his career, he's still managed to piss a lot of people off with his lack of effort in the process. 

[MV%doe]

As usual dropping the knowledge, thanks fiz.

[Kevin Greene]

We could never trade Peppers because he would never sign his Franchise Tag contract until well past the draft and Free Agency had passed and twice Hurney was paralyzed with Pepper's 17 million cap number in limbo while other teams stocked their rosters. At one point the cap number was so bad Hurney had to extend Delhomme with a ridiculous contract in a desperate grab to garner just a small amount of cap space. 

Hurney should have traded Peppers for whatever he could have gotten when he first refused to re-up with the massive contract offer or let him walk as Getts did Norman in a timely fashion where the cap money could be used and the next year a 3rd round comp pick received (yeah I know Getts didn't use the Norman money). This Peppers FT ordeal was a major component in 2 lost years in Carolina.

[Growl]

So is there a second half to the OP I'm missing or what