Gross says they would have tagged him not Pep

[Fireball77]

Maybe didn't deserve it's own thread, but hey it's the offseason!

http://www.heraldonline.com/247/story/1438793.html

The Panthers were able to tag Peppers back in February after getting left tackle Jordan Gross to sign a long-term contract. But Gross said recently that he was told during the negotiations that if a deal wasn't reached, he'd have worn the tag for a second straight year. That would have given Peppers exactly what he wanted, and left the Panthers looking for pass-rush elsewhere.

“They mentioned that,” Gross said with a grin of tagging him and not Peppers if things had gone differently. “You never know how much of that's true because it never happened.”

[PantherPride74]

Well atleast Fox and Hurney are smart enough to know that an elite LT is harder to find than an elite DE.

[jasonluckydog]

Peppers gone kick his ass at camp//

lol

Sucks for Peppers good for us.

[SorthNarolina]

damn this offseason has been such a downer for peppers, it seems like the whole entire leauge told him he's not so special

I don't think he's stuck up or anything but this might be good for him, motivate him to produce more and really be considered a top DE.

[Fireball77]

What it reiterates to me is that freakish athletic ability alone doesn't make a player elite. There's no denying that the guy is pretty much how you would build a DE physically and athletically. I've seen him make plays that are unbelievable and rare. Unfortunately, most of them are from 3-4 years ago. He is missing something, because in my book Strahan or Jason Taylor were no more talented than Pep but I would have taken Strahan or Taylor in a NY minute over Pep at any comparable point in their careers. Whether you want to call it heart or whatever, I think it is more a burning desire to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get better. It's not that he doesn't work hard, etc, because he is obviously always in shape, etc. but that extra piece, most likely a mental thing/mentality, that helps make a player great. It isn't just his stats whether good or below average. I have watched game replays where I pretty much watched only him when the D was on the field. It's like when he is being stymied for a great deal of the game (sometimes by scrubs, which is worrisome) or being schemed away from he sort of just seems to be like ok, well I am beat for today. It's not every game that this happens either. I think his somewhat passive personality plays into this a bit. It is unusual for a DL not to have an aggressive type personality or mindset IMO. This is not his fault obviously, he can't change that. To what extent that factors in, I have no idea. I hope to high heaven this changes under Meeks because he feels more well-utilized or whatever he is looking for. Again I am no psychologist or whatever and I could be completely off base. It is simply my explanation for what I see.

[top dawg]

The entire league does think that Pep is special, but they just didn't want to overpay him. Hopefully he'll get a long term contract done, and we won't have to face this situation again during an uncapped year.

[ThPantherFan]

What it reiterates to me is that freakish athletic ability alone doesn't make a player elite. There's no denying that the guy is pretty much how you would build a DE physically and athletically. I've seen him make plays that are unbelievable and rare. Unfortunately, most of them are from 3-4 years ago. He is missing something, because in my book Strahan or Jason Taylor were no more talented than Pep but I would have taken Strahan or Taylor in a NY minute over Pep at any comparable point in their careers. Whether you want to call it heart or whatever, I think it is more a burning desire to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get better. It's not that he doesn't work hard, etc, because he is obviously always in shape, etc. but that extra piece, most likely a mental thing/mentality, that helps make a player great. It isn't just his stats whether good or below average. I have watched game replays where I pretty much watched only him when the D was on the field. It's like when he is being stymied for a great deal of the game (sometimes by scrubs, which is worrisome) or being schemed away from he sort of just seems to be like ok, well I am beat for today. It's not every game that this happens either. I think his somewhat passive personality plays into this a bit. It is unusual for a DL not to have an aggressive type personality or mindset IMO. This is not his fault obviously, he can't change that. To what extent that factors in, I have no idea. I hope to high heaven this changes under Meeks because he feels more well-utilized or whatever he is looking for. Again I am no psychologist or whatever and I could be completely off base. It is simply my explanation for what I see.

Excellent assessment. I tried to give you reps, but must pass some around.

[scpanther22]

Again, the Panthers executed the strategy perfectly, even if they had to overpay Gross a tad. By tagging Peppers, and making it clear they were willing to withstand the cost of doing it again and again, they ensured a legitimate pass-rush this year. It also bought them time to work on a long-term fix, one that Gross said should ultimately work.

first time i have heard someone say we overpayed Gross

[panthers55]

I don't know if they would have done it or not. Of course they were going to say that, thats basic negotiating. In the end Gross knew he had them over a barrel and made sure he got as much as he could. I figure they knew Gross wanted to stay he just wanted to get paid a bunch. They were just telling him they needed a deal by the time they had to decide to franchise Peppers or not.

[Fireball77]

Come on P55, let us wallow in the intrigue, don't bring logic into it! lol

[KillerKat]

damn this offseason has been such a downer for peppers, it seems like the whole entire leauge told him he's not so special

I don't think he's stuck up or anything but this might be good for him, motivate him to produce more and really be considered a top DE.

How? Others teams couldn't do anything without the tender being signed.

[Fireball77]

They couldn't deal with the Cats directly but they could have offered a contract through Carey. If Pep wanted out as bad as it sounds he did, I would think he would have entertained those offers. We will never know if he got any offers or not though.

[panthers55]

Come on P55, let us wallow in the intrigue, don't bring logic into it! lol

Your right. Sorry.

How about a retake:

OH my god, what would we have done if Gross would have held out??

I guess saying they wanted to franchise Gross must mean they value him more. Peppers was an afterthought.

What a dilemma!!!

[Fireball77]

There we go, huddle drama mode on! (Scary how you can adapt to that so quickly!)