The official salary #s for tagging Peppers.

[frash.exe]

madonna mia this fuging place takes things way out of context...

Lucas as a player, as a leader in the locker room, not a "cancer". He isn't well established compared to our other guys.

[Snake]

madonna mia this f*cking place takes things way out of context...

Lucas as a player, as a leader in the locker room, not a "cancer". He isn't well established compared to our other guys.

Dont get pissy with me. :toetap05: I just seemed like you were saying he was not well liked thus Cancer.

[Skew]

Per NFL rules: "By 4:00 p.m. EST on February 27, NFL teams will need to be in compliance with the 2009 salary cap."

Hence the start of Free Agency February 28.

[jaybee1182]

They cant all be leaders in the locker room. Somebody has to be the sheep.

[frash.exe]

They cant all be leaders in the locker room. Somebody has to be the sheep.

but Lucas is a "sheep" in the top 5 in players' salaries.

it makes sense to cut him loose.

[Highlandfire]

We dont have to be under the cap till right before TC so its possible we could Trade him before that and be under the cap at that time.

I still feel though guys pep is gone. We are gonna tag Gross and let pep walk. Yea I know it seems unfair but the guy gave us 7 years so just be happy with that. Its the better move to keep a player here that wants to be here then to take a risk of losing players over one thats not happy.

Um yes and no. Yes we can be over the cap but the NFL front office and the CBA says we can't draft till we are under the cap.

[Highlandfire]

Bottom line, we need to restructure some contracts and make some cuts quickly. Get the Gross deal done, he says it would be done now if the language was different. Ok fix the damn language and get the deal done.

We must franchise peppers. Free up the cap room and get it done. No way we can let him just walk. We need a first rounder again to replace him.

[SorthNarolina]

lucas is a good player, i don't think he has to restructure because of his play this season but more because of his age and where he is at in his contract

usually guys get extended around that area, with as much help we need on D-line we don't need a hole at CB

[Badbak]

Bottom line, we need to restructure some contracts and make some cuts quickly. Get the Gross deal done, he says it would be done now if the language was different. Ok fix the damn language and get the deal done.

We must franchise peppers. Free up the cap room and get it done. No way we can let him just walk. We need a first rounder again to replace him.

That was before he had a solid year at LT and became an All Pro w/ a ticket to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. things are different now!

[panthers55]

Um yes and no. Yes we can be over the cap but the NFL front office and the CBA says we can't draft till we are under the cap.

It isn't that we can't draft, it is that we can't sign any free agents in the signing period unless they fit under the cap. But remember that we can still sign cheap guys because the cap doesn't pertain to all the players just the top 53 highest paid.

As for those saying we can't sign Gross and Pep, I say why not?? We paid Gross almost 8 million last year under the tag so we should be able to get a long term done for about that much. He is already one of the top 5 guys being paid at his position. If we give him a big signing bonus and pay him a small salary for the next few years, his cap hit is relatively small. We paid Pep 13 million last year so the cap increase is roughly 2.6 million. With the cap rising 10 million, we should be able to sign them both at this point. Particularly if we restructure Lewis who costs 6 million, extend Jake for one or two years and cut Lucas as a June 1 cut ( I like him but figure he is too costly for his production rather than extending him for a few more years which could give up lots of dead cap space if we cut him down the road).

Sure Pep costs a ton but he cost us a ton last year as well.

[Urrymonster]

People are getting a touch worried over nothing.

We can designate Peppers our franchise player, which locks him up regardless. He does not have to sign the contract until right before training camp though, case example was Gross last year. If there is no contract signing, that figure will NOT count against the cap. Therefore once we designate him our franchise player we will have room to sign free agents and lock up Gross - if he wants to stay that is. Peppers will likely be gone before the draft and thus allow us to draft extra players and not carry Peppers massive cap hit.

Chances are Peppers will NEVER sign the franchise tender and thus we will NEVER take the cap hit. We will trade him before he actually signs the franchise tender.

Stop worrying we have plenty of wiggle room for Gross and free agents. The only problem is if we do not find a suitable trade partner...

[Skew]

I'm not sure that's true. Do know that if he's tagged, it will be in Feb. and at that point, the team will have to plan as if he will sign it.

[mantal]

I'm not sure that's true. Do know that if he's tagged, it will be in Feb. and at that point, the team will have to plan as if he will sign it.

No, he'll sign. He and his agent knew that the franchise tag would happen when they spoke out. They also said nothing about not signing a franchise tag, just that they would not sign a long term contract. Sitting out would hurt Peppers more than anybody else and they know it...

[Snake]

Sorry guys I love to hear you scheming plans but Pep has all the leverage and Gross is more important at this point. If we do not see Gross sign in a few weeks he will get the tag not pep. Peps agent was smart to tell all to the media also cause it even put more doubt that a team will trade for pep. So get over it he is gone and we are gonna get noting for him.