Peppers won't be traded at a discount

[rayzor]

believe it or not....they just might know what they're doing. hang in there guys. we aren't going to be robbed blind.

Peppers won't be traded at a discount

Don't count out a return to Panthers. They won't let him go for mere 2nd-round pick.

By Charles Chandler

There's plenty of smoke in the air involving a possible trade of Julius Peppers to the New England Patriots, but is there fire?

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First of all, other teams are inquiring about Peppers despite the fact that he bears the Panthers' franchise tag.

“I have talked to general managers of other teams in the NFL and there is interest in Julius,” Carl Carey, Peppers' agent, told the Observer Tuesday night.

Carey declined to identify those teams.

Despite the interest, it will be difficult to get a perfect match that lands Peppers with one of the four teams on his preferred list, with a satisfactory contract for him and trade compensation acceptable to Carolina.

As a result, the percentages still strongly favor Peppers playing with the Panthers next season under a one year-tender of $16.683 million.

The Panthers consistently have said they want to keep Peppers. They're not going to let him go at a bargain price, certainly not a mere second-round pick (34th overall) as suggested Monday in an NFL.com report.

Carolina officials would have preferred Peppers not saying he wanted to leave in the first place, but he remains the anchor of their defensive line and it would be extremely hard to replace him with anyone comparable to his abilities.

As for the huge amount he'd count against their 2009 salary cap, remember that he counted almost $14 million against their cap last year, so it's not anything they're not used to or haven't planned for.

They would not have given him the one-year tender if they weren't willing to stand by it. Their entire philosophy is to draft well and, if that happens, keep their core players long-term. That includes Peppers, even at the high price.

The Panthers should not be – and almost certainly aren't – close-minded about trading Peppers if a substantial offer becomes available.

This is an organization that has a history of keeping all reasonable options open, and that's no different now. But “reasonable” doesn't mean charitable. General manager Marty Hurney and owner Jerry Richardson aren't about to let an elite player get away for anything less than top value.

Any deal they'd even consider probably would have to approach what Minnesota gave Kansas City last year for franchised defensive end Jared Allen – a first-round pick and two third-rounders.

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[jpniner]

if he counts 17 Million against salary cap next season we are still being robbed.

1) he's not worth that much

2) the longer this drags out the less FA's available for us to choose from IF we ever free up space to sign any.

and we need to sign several FA, with or without Peppers.

[rayzor]

it will only be for one season, though. much better option than having it drawn out and they have been planning for it. there isn't much in the way of dire needs other than the DL and finding a replacement for him was the chief among them.

if we have him next year, which is still a huge possibility considering the panthers hard line (which isn't closed mindedness), then we have no hole to fill on that side.

i don't think that he is worth $17mil next year either but that is better than having someone rob us blind. this way we still have someone there on the right side. we will see a year at least as good as this one if he is still there as he tries to show someone that he is worth a big payday.

he may even work out a deal with the panthers like haynesworth did with the titans. remember that deal said that if he reached 4(?) benchmarks during the season the titans could not franchise him again. what was the result from haynesworth? if peppers is absolutely dead set against being here for the rest of his career, he is going to kick some serious butt and will, as a result, make himself almost worth that $1mil a game.

for needs that we still have, they will find the cap room. there are still restructuring deals to take place and it will happen as needed. we will get what we need.

i'm still feeling that fox/hurney aren't free from the hotseat and aren't interested in losing their jobs and would rather work to get us a lombardi. they have to prove that last year was not a fluke. if they mess everything up and we don't get in the playoffs or even have a miserable one and done like this past year, i seriously doubt they would be here for the next season.

[Kurb]

He will get traded.

1st + 2nd will make it happen I would think.

[Murph]

I'm leaning towards him staying. We can restructure Jake, Smitty, Harris and one or two others to free up another 3-6 giving us more than enough cap space to sign all our draft picks and bring in a mid level free agent like Robertson plus bring back Kyle, Gibson, Carter and a few others.

Yeah, I know it is not ideal in the long term to do all of this re-working but Hurney is not going to let him go for less than a very fair value. I think it is the right move to make.

[Kurb]

But I don't WANT him here

[rayzor]

He will get traded.

1st + 2nd will make it happen I would think.

most likely. from the pats, it would take their #23 and #34. that would not be a bad deal at all. still they would be getting off a bit cheap (and likely so would we) but it would be worth it to both organizations.

[Panthro]

But I don't WANT him here

Panthro "Likes" this comment

[Skew]

But I don't WANT him here

Get use to the idea.

[Murph]

I am actually not thrilled about that either. If he does, he will have counted over 50 million of cap space over a four year stretch. Based on average production over that stretch, that is too much money for him.

[Kurb]

[Neylus]

This is just posturing, part of the process, a trade will happen.

[rayzor]

yeah, trade could still happen but hurney won't (better not, anyway) let peppers go for a song. i think they are serious about not letting him go for just a 2nd. they would much rather keep pep than let him go for that, which is pretty much the point of the article.

[Brandon]

yeah, trade could still happen but hurney won't (better not, anyway) let peppers go for a song. i think they are serious about not letting him go for just a 2nd. they would much rather keep pep than let him go for that, which is pretty much the point of the article.

I wouldn't let him go for just one second, but a pair of seconds (especially if one is the 34th pick) would be great. Now I realize a lot of people want firsts but second rounders are still very valuable to GM's because they get much smaller contracts and yet there is still a great deal of talent to be found in the second.