Panther not "letting" Peppers walk

[rippadonn]

Two facts still remain. Peppers and Carey are receptive to an offer from the Panthers and the Panthers have yet to make an offer or disclose publicly their intentions. So for those who want him gone there is hope and for those who want him to stay (like me) there is hope too.

[Udogg]

Carey probably want's last years contract. Carolina's not going to offer it now. Carey is going to shop around and try to get last years contract(the money carolina offered). With labor relations as is, they are not going to get it. I wouldn't be shocked if Pep ended up back here anyway for a lot less than last year's contract. That being said, he still won because he got 17+ mill this season. Counting the 14 mill the year prior thats 27 mill. Plus a substantial signing bonus this year. The Peppers team has gambled and won.

I however don't blame the front office, offering to make him the highest paid DE and then having him not sign, there is really nothing you can do about that. I think Pep's agent realizes that there isn't an overwhelming demand for his client as evidenced to him not being able to work anything out last year with any team. The reason he has called the panthers out (in the media)this year is he probably wants them to put last years offer up as a starting point. Front office is going to play hardball at this point.

[Udogg]

Thinking about it more, not offering him any contract is probably the worst thing that could happen for Pep in this situation. His (inexperienced) agent is going to have to go out and work a deal without having Carolina's offer to play off. If that was their intention, it was a very good move by the Front Office.

[rippadonn]

I really hope we can put the same defense we had on the field last season on the field this season Pep included. We'll have Kemo and Leonard back too. Everybody was just getting used to this defense and it showed in their late season domination of playoff teams. Pep was visibly more happy about the new defense and was almost giddy about the QB play of Matt Moore.

I just hope he and the team can make a deal.

[mountainpantherfan]

Just to note, the Panthers could use the Transistion Tag instead of the Franshise Tag and end up doing the same thing as Peppers being a RFA instead of a UFA. Peppers would probably end up making the same he did in 2009 under the Transistion Tag but teams would be more willing to negociate a trade as compared to the Franshise Tag.

...I think....

[Happy Panther]

FRom PFT...

As we've previously discussed, it's one of the tweaks of the uncapped year, aimed at maintaining competitive balance. The teams that advance to the divisional round face restrictions on their ability to sign unrestricted free agents. Most notably, a "final eight" team cannot sign an unrestricted free agent to a big-money deal unless and until the final eight team loses one of its own unrestricted free agents to a big-money deal.

Specifically, a "replacement" free agent's first-year salary may not exceed the first-year salary received by the unrestricted free agent who has left the final-eight team. After year one, limitations apply on the growth of the deal.

As a practical matter, this removes the Saints, Colts, Vikings, Jets, Cowboys, Cardinals, Chargers, and Ravens from the 12:01 a.m. ET bidding for Peppers' services, since none of those teams will be losing an unrestricted free agent via a contract that will be remotely close to the ballpark in which Peppers hopes to operate.

So only 24 teams will be in the running for Peppers. And with the Panthers no longer trying to keep him, the maximum market has dipped even lower, to 23.

Factor in the reality that Peppers has a reputation for periodically disappearing in games, and plenty of those 23 teams will opt to spend their money elsewhere, limiting even further the leverage that Peppers ultimately will enjoy.

That said, it takes only one team to blow the lid off the market. But the dynamics will be very different in 2010 than they have been in past years. There's a good chance, then, that Peppers won't get a Haynesworth-style deal.

But it's hard to envision Peppers feeling like he's had salt poured in a wound (man, I've been waiting eight years to use that one). After all, the guy made more than $18 million in 2009.

A bunch of teams can't sign him if they wanat.

From PFT

[Panthers128]

the guys made nearly 30mil the past two seasons. only sign him if we get a discounted rate.

[Kakarot]

I really hope we can put the same defense we had on the field last season on the field this season Pep included. We'll have Kemo and Leonard back too. Everybody was just getting used to this defense and it showed in their late season domination of playoff teams. Pep was visibly more happy about the new defense and was almost giddy about the QB play of Matt Moore.

I just hope he and the team can make a deal.

:iagree:

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Between some of you and Republicans, I think I have almost lost all faith in humanity...

[GreatPoupon]

LOL Republicans!! the root of all evil clearly