Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Gross says they would have tagged him not Pep

Fireball77

By Fireball77,
in Carolina Panthers

Recommended Posts

Fireball77 Newbie

Fireball77

Posted
Posted

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.

NFL;dcove=d;pl=story;lvl6=Panthers;loc=ats;pos=MREC01;sz=300x250;tile=4;ord=123456789?

“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.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fireball77 Newbie

Fireball77

Posted
  • Author
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ThPantherFan Grand Master

ThPantherFan

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scpanther22 Mentor

scpanther22

Posted
Posted

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites
panthers55 Grand Master

panthers55

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KillerKat Grand Master

KillerKat

Posted
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fireball77 Newbie

Fireball77

Posted
  • Author
Posted

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
panthers55 Grand Master

panthers55

Posted
Posted

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!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • PMH4OWPW7JD2TDGWZKTOYL2T3E.jpg

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • electro's horse
      Carolina Still Not Respected

      By electro's horse · Posted

      Not to me but I'm jumping in here.  On offense, the NFL is easier than ever. The rules have all been changed in their favor, college game is more advanced, they're better athletes with better training, etc.  Dan has been in the NFL almost constantly since he was drafted in 2001. He's been in the league for nearly a quarter century, in a variety of roles, in multiple organizations as a FO person and player, with only a brief absence to somehow run a pizza restaurant into the ground. Just because he's been the final decision maker (supposedly) for three years doesn't change that.  Dave is A Bad Headcoach and I hate him, but there's no shortage of examples of coaches having very quick success. The superbowl was just won by a coach in his second season. Matt Lafleur was OC for only 2 seasons. Ben Johnson got 11 wins out of the dismal Bears. Liam Cohen came from the same place our coach did and immediately had the Jags playing better than the Panthers ever have. Demeco has been to the playoffs 3 times in 3 years. Canales has been in the NFL for 15 years, and has been around success in multiple franchises. It's clear he wasn't the key to the success (actually demoted towards the end of his time in Seattle, Tampa Bay did better without him) but another year or two isn't going to change anything; he is what he is. On top of that, he's actually giving up responsibilities in his fourth year. He already didn't have roster control over the defense down to gameday starters (unthinkable) but now he's not even calling plays. He's not some organizational guru like Andy Reid (didn't even hire the DC). Not sure I can think of another coach who's doing less in his third year than Canales is now that wasn't poo canned.  There's no role for the tight end in this offense so it doesn't really matter, but I'm going to go ahead and combine this with WR because the college game is so advanced (see *) now they don't really have the transition period they did in the past. I mean Tet immediately looked the part, Coker is (imo) the best player on the team, and there just isn't a lot of room for a third wide receiver to have any production. This is another reason burning a third on a WR* was such a stupid thing. What's the marginal improvement here? You've already got a couple of straight line guys who can't block in the running game.  Offensive line is this team's strength. Good mix of young/old, good and bad contracts, good coaching etc. Good position to be in Bryce is entering his fourth year and he just is what he is. There were multiple first and second year QBs who outperformed him/looked better last year. Shough was a rookie who outplayed him twice and looked better overall. Assuming you can make him stop diving headfirst into walls, you absolutely take Jaxson Dart over Bryce moving forward. Contract not withstanding I think most people take Cam Ward over Bryce in a vacuum. Maye is in his 2nd year and (2025 schedule not withstanding) looks worlds better than Bryce. And that's to say nothing about Caleb, CJ or motherfuging Bo Nix; i don't think someone can honestly stay they'd take Bryce over any of those players. yeah sure CJ looked like poo against the Broncos in the playoffs. I don't even want to think about what Bryce would have looked like against that defense. And also I don't want to hear about Drake Maye in the playoffs; LA, Houston, Denver, Seattle is probably the hardest stretch of defenses any QB has ever had to go through in the playoffs ever. And they weren't just very good defenses; seattle and houston were HISTORICALLY good. Anyway to wrap this up, the "experience" argument doesn't really work for the Panthers since all the key players are well past what you could realistically say is their initiation phase or whatever in the modern NFL. At the end of the day Canales and Bryce are just bad at their jobs, and when you compare them to their contemporaries it only reinforces this notion. I sincerely cannot think of a QB whos had more resources dedicated to his drafting and "success" than Bryce, and I can't think of a third year coach who does less than Canales is poised to do heading into this season.  * Tennessee wide receivers in the nfl lmao 
    • AceMan
      The "now it's been three years" Grade for the 2023 Draft

      By AceMan · Posted

    • MHS831
      Time to Sign David Njoku

      By MHS831 · Posted

      Great point.    I would lke to add that there is another QB on the roster who was terrible over the middle--Kenny Pickett.  
×
×
  • Create New...