Latest Peppers speculation...

[j2sgam]

...from ProFootballWeekly.

We hear the Panthers don't want DE Julius Peppers to get away, but sources in Charlotte don't expect that he and the team will agree to a long-term extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in March. There's a decent chance he has played his final game with the Panthers.

[2jakefansinva]

He'll be in Carolina if he wants to be.

[Duncan81]

i dont see why anybody wouldnt wanna play for there home state pro football team....and make great money even if its only million dollars a year.....oh i get it now greed

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Pep ain't going nowhere...

[CatMan72]

I think this is already pretty well understood, he's waiting to see what kind of contract offer the Panthers make... it's clear that the contract offer they made him before this season wasn't good enough in his eyes, he wants to become the highest paid defensive player in the NFL (to the tune of 15 mil a year) and if they don't make him that kind of offer than he won't sign a contract and the the ball is in our court to decide whether or not to franchise him again this year.

The good news is that without a salary cap, we're not going to be crippled this year like we were last year by his cap #.

The real question is: If they were willing to pay him 16 mil last year to stay, then why wouldn't they be willing to pay him 15 mil this year to get him under contract?

[niblet]

Pep ain't going nowhere...

So then where is he going?

[Zcustom]

Let him test the market and see that he's not worth quite what he thinks he is and then he can come back here and sign a deal, most likely very similar to what he was offered a couple seasons ago.

If he walks oh well

[pantherpain]

Pep ain't going nowhere...

I agree, it's last year all over again. Just tag him when the time comes and be done with it.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

So then where is he going?

haha good catch...

I'll rephrase...

Pep isn't going anywhere... He'll be a Panther until the end of his career...

[CatMan72]

Let him test the market and see that he's not worth quite what he thinks he is and then he can come back here and sign a deal, most likely very similar to what he was offered a couple seasons ago.

If he walks oh well

That's a huge gamble to take with a guy that we could potentially receive allot of compensation for... we shouldn't let him just walk, that would be silly. At a bare minimum we should negotiate some sort of sign-and-trade with him.

[Zod]

If he leaves it will free up a good amount of money to sign solid vets in other positions of need and make for an exciting offseason...

just sayin

[Zod]

If he leaves it will free up a good amount of money to sign solid vets in other positions of need and make for an exciting offseason...

just sayin

[j2sgam]

I think this is already pretty well understood, he's waiting to see what kind of contract offer the Panthers make... it's clear that the contract offer they made him before this season wasn't good enough in his eyes, he wants to become the highest paid defensive player in the NFL (to the tune of 15 mil a year) and if they don't make him that kind of offer than he won't sign a contract and the the ball is in our court to decide whether or not to franchise him again this year.

See, I thought the Panthers made him that offer a year or 2 ago. That deal would have made him the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL, this was pre-Haynesworth/'Skins deal, of course. JP turned it down, so it wasnt the money back then. Could've been Trgo, Jake, K.Jenkins or even K.Lucas, who knows? All we can do is let the situation play out. I just put up the latest 'cause I hadnt seen it up yet, even though it is like most of the other articles about our team right now -it doesn't say squat...

Too true, Zod. Too true...

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Trgo... Jake... Jenkins...

One of these things is not like the other... yet...

Pep will likely be locked up long term before too long... and while it will be for a lot of money, that isn't the key motivator...

I still argue against the "letting go of Pep will free up money for other vets" sentiment because it'd take 4 new players at least to do what Pep does... and you'd have to have them all on the field at once...