Peppers on returning to play the Panthers

[boo7382]

never demanded anything

Demand, request, either way you wanna put it, he wasn't worth that kind of $$ for the effort he was giving.

It was blatantly clear he didn't want to be here anymore, especially after the Vikes game.

Edit: He DID put in effort in that game.....note that it was nationally televised.

[JakeFlake]

Peppers: "It ended a little sour. I felt it could have been a little more respectful. At least a phone call. They couldn't give me that."

More Peppers: "They tried to turn the tables (on me) and make it look like I wanted out no matter out. I didn't have the option to stay."

http://twitter.com/carolinagrowl

[Chaos]

Nothing like stepping up your game in a contract year. I remember Moose was famous for that.

[Guild]

Don't worry guys Goodson will chip him and it will be gg.

[IRONMAN]

Chicago can have his 7 tackles and 2 sacks. Charles Johnson has 11 tackles and 2 sacks; we're doing okay.

[Gazi]

Peppers rips Panthers

For most of a 20-minute conference call with Charlotte reporters Wednesday, former Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers took the high road when talking about his time with the Panthers and what it means to play his old team this week with the Chicago Bears.

But near the end of the teleconference, Peppers took a couple of shots that drafted him in the first round in 2002 out of North Carolina.

Peppers said he was disappointed his eight years with the Panthers ended on a sour note.

Asked to elaborate, Peppers said he didn’t appreciate the way his departure was handled. Peppers said he never received a call from team officials to inform him they were not going to re-sign him.

“I don’t have a problem with them saying, ‘OK, the lockup is coming up. The future of the league is uncertain, and we’re going to go in a different direction. We’re going to do away with anybody who was making any significant amount of money, and we’re going to keep young guys.’ That’s a business decision. I can understand that and respect that,” Peppers said.

“The problem that I had was that they tried to turn the tables to make it look like I wanted out, no matter what. And really, I didn’t have the option to stay because it was never offered to stay. So that’s the thing when I say it ended a little sour, I felt like it could have been a little more respectful.

“At least a phone call to say, ‘Hey, it’s been good. We’re going a different direction. We’re going to let you go.’ They couldn’t even give me that. So that’s why I say it was a little sour.”

In an interview last week, Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said the Panthers twice made Peppers offers to make him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player.

Peppers said those offers came a couple of years ago. He said the Panthers did not negotiate with him this past offseason before he signed a six-year, $91.5 million contract with the Bears.

Carolina placed the “franchise” tag on Peppers in 2009, when he made $16.7 million (plus an additional $1.5 million for making the Pro Bowl) as the league’s highest-paid player last year.

Despite his 81 sacks and five Pro Bowl appearances with the Panthers, Peppers said it bothered that critics claimed he would often take plays off.

“If people look at the numbers and stop making up stuff about how I played, (they’ll) realize I’ve done well and I think I exceeded past expectations when I was brought to that team.”

--Joseph Person

http://blogs.charlotte.com/panthers/

[hepcat]

I'll never forget the game against the Jaguars in '07 where all 5'6 of Maurice Jones-Drew PANCAKED 6'7 Julius Peppers.

[Guild]

In all fairness to Peppers MJD is a frightening beast.

[Dpantherman]

He didn't have an option to stay, we kicked him out...ok...

[The Saltman]

*** him

[Samuel L. Jackson]

LOL I was telling you all this all along, but you wanted to believe the same Panthers front office that was telling you Armanti Edwards and Brandon LaFell were going to be good WRs...

[Beason n Smitty beaston]

i live in the chitown area and every1 thinks the bears are the best team ever!!! its embarassing they all say peppers is the best defensive player in the nfl...bears fans are the dumbest in the world cuz they also think cutler is a good qb

[Guild]

LOL I was telling you all this all along, but you wanted to believe the same Panthers front office that was telling you Armanti Edwards and Brandon LaFell were going to be good WRs...

They still could be.

[The Saltman]

*** him and *** slj

LOL I was telling you all this all along, but you wanted to believe the same Panthers front office that was telling you Armanti Edwards and Brandon LaFell were going to be good WRs...

I fixed mine for u