Carolina Panthers to determine Julius Peppers' fate this week

[R0CKnR0LLA]

Yeah he was the highest paid DE for one whole season, and if he suffered a career ending injury the inability to get a long term deal worked out would have cost peppers tens of millions of dollars. good looking out carney

[mountainpantherfan]

Yeah he was the highest paid DE for one whole season, and if he suffered a career ending injury the inability to get a long term deal worked out would have cost peppers tens of millions of dollars. good looking out carney

This is the biggest question mark for me and why I think Carney has Peppers snowballed. That or Carney is just a lucky moron. It's 50/50 from where I stand...

[Udogg]

Carney can say Over the last 3 years my client has 27.5 sacks. Over that period of time he was paid, 13 mill, 14 mill, 17 mill. I am like the Scott Boras of the NFL.

[Kevin Greene]

Schefter says he's gone so it must be true!

As expected, the Carolina Panthers have decided not to apply the franchise tag to defensive end Julius Peppers, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

An announcement is expected Tuesday.

And so Peppers, who was tagged by the Panthers in 2009, will head to free agency on March 5.

Schefter characterizes Peppers as one of the highest-profile free agents since Reggie White in the last season without a salary cap, and we agree. But Peppers is not, hasn't been, and never will be Reggie White. Peppers has the ability to be dominant, but he disappears too often, and for too long.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/22/panthers-will-let-peppers-walk/

[KatsAzz]

The mistake made with Peppers goes back 3 years or so. You really need to go all the way back to 2006 to understand the incompetent nature of this:

- No discussions were held in 2006 about contract extension, meaning any extension would have to be negotiated during the last 2 years of his contract. Which barring injury, is always to the players advantage.

- After Peppers turned down the offer during and at the end of the 2007 season, the Panthers made no effort to trade him, essentially assuring themselves of the inevitable.

- As the 2009 season played out, it became more and more obvious that he was willing to stay - no apparent effort was made to sign him to a long term deal.

On the last point, I'm actually ok that we didn't sign him at that point, since we clearly would have paid him far more than he'll get in the open market. He's always been, and will always be, worth more to the Panthers than he is to any other team in the league.

At the end of the day, anything over $10MM/season is too much to have tied up in any one player (bar none) other than quarterbacks. The fact is, all other positions can be easily replaced, if not thru individual players, then thru good coaching, game planning and/or schemes.

[KatsAzz]

really don't see why people don't see Peppers for what he is!! His numbers look good at the end of the season, but it isn't all about the numbers. He and his agent have done a great job getting his numbers to a level that equals big bucks. I would rather have guys willing to give all they have(Beason, Davis) every play than someone that you may get a good game from IF they are on Prime Time. This guy got a Pro Bowler benched, but couldn't give that effort EVERY week, or something close?? Goodbye Peppers