It all comes back to Peppers

[scpanther22]

Good stuff IMO..the FO took a gamble.and its not paying off.Hurney is a great scout but these decsisions may have cost him and fox there jobs.

Without funds to adequately fill the backup positions, the Panthers are filling kick coverage and return units with odd parts, and guys who were never good special teamers to begin with. The fact that an undrafted rookie receiver such as Charly Martin can go from practice squad to active roster in a week speaks to special teams coach Danny Crossman's desperation.

Then Maake Kemoeatu went down, triggering a mad scramble (and, frankly, some of Marty Hurney's best work) to find qualified defensive tackle help. Then one of those guys went down.

http://www.heraldonline.com/247/story/1760121.html

[Guild]

It is what it...

yeah you're pretty much right in that they took a gamble and it's not paying off. Especially now that Pep's hand is broken and he isn't playing every down.

[Kevin Greene]

Boy I sure hope Hurney Franchises Pep again this offseason so we can trade him for 2 #1 draft picks and Tom Brady.

[DaCityKats]

the article also said he looked like he can play on every down still well at least he did in practice.....if im not mistaken isnt that were you show the coaches(fox) how good are you.

[Davidson Deac II]

Very good article, and I completely agree. And if Peppers doesn't want to play with us next year, and we can't get anything for him, then we should just let him go.

[rayzor]

good read.

hurney and fox should very much be held accountable for this. so many people, myself included, thought that keeping him was the right thing to do, even as painful as it was to do.

that was wrong. you can't judge whether a gamble was a good idea until you get the results. well, the results are in and while we were able to protect the pride of the organization by not bowing to peppers demands and kept him and our precious 21 of 2 starters, we lost far more.

pride was the main motivator behind the panthers and peppers in this whole ordeal and we lost. we lost much needed depth and much needed ability to go out and find components when they were needed.

true, no one can anticipate having an injury riddled year like we are having but that doesn't mean that you should sacrifice your ability to take care of those needs so that you can have your beloved peppers still on the team.

true, also, that had peppers played lights out all year without getting hurt and we had not lost any starters to IR then hurney would have been esteemed as genius provided we got back into the playoffs and did well.

as it is, his gamble hurt the team. as bold and as admirable a move as it was, it was a monumental mistake and he must be held accountable. fox and hurney should be judged by this action and this decision to keep peppers at all costs because it played a huge role in the panthers season going as it has.

an employee or manager could have a stellar record for years but when they make a mistake that costs the company millions of dollars then they must be dealt with appropriately.

best things the panthers could have done is move on from peppers and jake. now their refusal has put the panthers in a very bad spot. those responsible for it should no be allowed future employment here.

[Hairless Cat]

I dont see us trading him to anyone for nothing.

[AKPantherFan]

no man is worth that much.

Peppers price tag cost us 4 great players....

I said it in the off season, I say it now- Peace out Pepp....

Good to see now some of you realize how STOOOPID it was to spend so much cap space on one position.

[AKPantherFan]

I dont see us trading him to anyone for nothing.

In a no salary cap year we will be able to off load him with no problem.

We will get a 1st for him. Bank it.

[scpanther22]

I say we trade him.But i dont think we can get a 1st for him now.

[Kevin Greene]

In a no salary cap year we will be able to off load him with no problem.

We will get a 1st for him. Bank it.

How are we going to do that?

[AKPantherFan]

How are we going to do that?

We will franchise him again, and then some dumbass team will trade a 1st for him...

There will be no salary cap, they dan snyder's, jerry jones of the world will jump all over it.

[scpanther22]

We will franchise him again, and then some dumbass team will trade a 1st for him...

There will be no salary cap, they dan snyder's, jerry jones of the world will jump all over it.

Cant find the article but it basically said that this uncapped year...does not help the big owners like that.were they can just go wild and spend and get all the top talent.

[Kevin Greene]

We will franchise him again, and then some dumbass team will trade a 1st for him...

There will be no salary cap, they dan snyder's, jerry jones of the world will jump all over it.

Putting the FT on Peppers does not allow us to trade him, just as it didn't last offseason.

When Peppers refuses to sign his FT contract only his agent would be able to seek a trade partner, just like last offseason.

And once we get past the draft and eventually Peppers is forced to sign the FT or not play at all, we'll have to pay an unhappy, unmotivated Defensive End 20 million dollars, like we're paying him 16.7 million this season.

The Franchise tag only works to a teams advantage if 1, the player signs it early as Tom Cassell did last offseason allowing the Patriots to trade him wherever the team wants. Or 2, the number you must pay the Franchise Tagged player is reasonable if he stays.

Here are the numbers teams would expect to pay a FT player:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d806a24a3&template=without-video&confirm=true

A defensive End should bring 9 million dollars, we're paying twice that much for Peppers. He ain't worth it. He needs to walk, and we need to start thinking about how we're going to use that 20 million dollars in cap space early in the offseason so it can be used to our advantage. Not spend the whole offseason stuck in limbo hoping for some magical deal for Peppers that will never come because frankly, with Peps cap number, he is in charge.