A Simple Comparison

[Panthro]

I had convoluted on my word of the day calendar.

[bigdog10]

I'd look at thier ages when comparing them as well. I think Johnson is only going to get better, while Peppers (while still an amazing talent) will begin to tail off.

[DaCityKats]

would be a set of bookends if he was still here.

[Lumps]

If you want to look at production vs. what they are paid we obviously got a better deal with CJ. Peppers essentially has to be good because his contract eats up probably everything set aside for DEs.

Comparing them though really in any way is not accurate, they are much different players mostly considering their age and time the league as starters.

[X-Clown]

If there is a positive to Jerry's gutting the team of vets in 2010, it's that we finally got to see what Charles Johnson could do. If not, we might have seen Peppers get 20 million last year (and leave this past offseason), and CJ do the same due to Tyler Brayton starting ahead of him.

[X-Clown]

Wee only use selective stats!

lol

[thefuzz]

IMO Peppers was able to make that Chicago Bear D tick.

CJ, while a fantastic DE, is not in the same league.

[jtnc]

Charles Johnson is more consistent, Peppers gets his sacks in bunches.

[Dilated_chakra]

pretty sure pep takes up alot of double teams and frees the rest of the line

[Wyank]

pretty sure pep takes up alot of double teams and frees the rest of the line

Probably but who do you think gets double teamed for the Panthers Dline? Hardy? Our revolving door at DT?

[Proudiddy]

People also seem to forget how many games, even when Pep was here, that he was left blocked one-on-one.

He is an athletic freak who seems to show up in the biggest games, but he doesn't do it consistently.

The point is, most DEs are judged by sacks, TFL, and how they disrupt the offense. CJ does that just as well as Pep even if they do it a little bit differently. Pep deflects more balls at the LOS, but CJ's stop rate is almost identical and he has more sacks and TFL than Pep over the last two years.

Pep has the 3 blocked FGs, which is a credit to his size and athleticism. That is the only place I can truly say we miss Pep. Regardless, we are lucky to have CJ and came out pretty well from Pep's departure.

What's selective about that?

(As a SN, while looking up their advanced stats, despite Hardy's lack of "DE numbers," his advanced stats show that he is extremely disruptive and really performing. Also, while CJ may not block kicks or deflect as many passes at the LOS as Pep, Hardy does.)

[Peppers90 NC]

Our defense has fallen off significantly since the departure of Peppers. Is there a direct correlation? Hard to prove there isn't.

[SOJA]

my god though if we still had Peppers and CJ....

[Cat'sGrowl]

Was a good move letting Julius Peppers walk and not overpaying him. Johnson has yielded better production for a cheaper cost; it's really a no brainer. Is Johnson as "complete" as Peppers? No. But keeping him was much more beneficial to the Panthers as a whole than keeping Julius Peppers around.

Cam would have already have beaten the pants off of him anyways for flashing a big grin and a delighted smile after we got blown out by the Titans.

Julius would have been terrible for the chemistry of this team and the attitude we are trying to build. We've seen on more than one occasion that Julius is quite content with losing as long as he got his. His heart was never in this game, and it certainly wasn't in this team.

Letting him go was one of the best decisions of the past few years.