Some Peppers thoughts...

[Greg Bailey]

Hey all, just thought I would throw in my 2 cents. After talking with NFL players agents and a couple of others who can offer insights, here’s what I know:

The market for Julius Peppers is not what his agent expected it to be. Sure, teams would love to have him. But who can afford him?Peppers and his agent are working in a brutal economic environment that has everyone in the NFL questioning every dollar they spend. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder spent $100 million dollars for Albert Haynesworth, but Snyder is likely the only one who:

a) has that kind of cash these days and

is willing to spend it.

Peppers and his agent, Carl Carey, would love to find a new team and a fat contract, but the list of teams that want Peppers and are willing to pay big to get him is severely limited.

Pittsburgh’s James Harrison plays a role that’s somewhat similar to Peppers, and Harrison’s 16 sack season was worth a $51 million dollar deal over six seasons with the Steelers. Harrison’s 30 and Peppers is 29. Both have value based on their ability to sack the quarterback and change offensive game plans.

Do the math and you figure out that if Peppers gets the franchise tag twice in Carolina – this season and in 2010 – he’ll make roughly $34 million for two seasons, and that money is guaranteed once you sign the franchise tender.

Harrison gets less money guaranteed and far less per season, so Peppers best shot at big, guaranteed money is likely right here with the Panthers.

Super agent Drew Rosenhaus told me that he really can’t see a scenario that lands Peppers anywhere but in Charlotte.

The standard disclaimer is the same: anything can happen on draft day. Peppers is a rare talent, and if someone feels like the dominoes fall their way and they can win big and win now, you never know.

But this is starting to look like Peppers and more important, his agent, overplayed their hand. And if you’re worried about Peppers being forced to come back to Carolina and dogging it, he could. But if he wants to a long term deal somewhere else, he has to play hard here.

[scpanther22]

harrison is an OLB..they get paid less then...DE.

i would think the market for peppers is good seeing as there is not many true DE in this draft..

[Zod]

Peppers would have been well served to have retained an actual sports agent and not a UNC academic.

[Zod]

harrison is an OLB..they get paid less then...DE.

i would think the market for peppers is good seeing as there is not many true DE in this draft..

considering Peppers is looking to play in a 3-4 I think its a valid comparison.

[Jangler]

I guess we will find out in 3 days. If he does play for Carolina this year, there is no way they will tag him again next year, right? Which means he walks away, and the Panthers get nothing. Maybe this was the plan all along?

[panthers55]

I guess we will find out in 3 days. If he does play for Carolina this year, there is no way they will tag him again next year, right? Which means he walks away, and the Panthers get nothing. Maybe this was the plan all along?

Why won't we tag him? It is an uncapped year so we don't have to worry about how much we spend. We were going to give him 30 million guaranteed just to sign with us and likely another 40 or 50 million on top of that in a long-term contract. This way he gets 37 million, we guarantee nothing in advance and if he sucks it up we cut him loose with no consequences. We pay a premium but he has to preform to get paid. It could be worse. Plus if he decides to stay it would make sense to sign long-term to guarantee his salary in the event he gets hurt. Anyone think his value shoots to the sky next year either?

[Jangler]

I keep forgetting about the uncapped year. So, this wasn't a really well thought out plan...

[Fireball77]

Peppers and his agent, Carl Carey, would love to find a new team and a fat contract, but the list of teams that want Peppers and are willing to pay big to get him is severely limited.

Well since he wants to go play in a 3-4, his agent should have told him he wasn't going to be making big money AND play 3-4 OLB (I would bet a lot on his not being able to be a 5-technique in a 3-4). That's an absolute no brainer. I blame the agent for not doing the $$ research and presenting it to Pep. I've been saying it all along. Pep would be a conversion project just like a bunch of college DEs coming out this year who are younger and cheaper. Why would any team consider Pep less of a risk conversion wise than a guy coming out of college? This is a bad year for them to have made that statement since there are a bunch of those tweeners coming out this draft. Yes Pep has proven he can play at the NFL level so he has that over a college guy, but he will also be 30 and changing positions, so that mitigates it.

[carolinarolls]

Why won't we tag him? It is an uncapped year so we don't have to worry about how much we spend. We were going to give him 30 million guaranteed just to sign with us and likely another 40 or 50 million on top of that in a long-term contract. This way he gets 37 million, we guarantee nothing in advance and if he sucks it up we cut him loose with no consequences. We pay a premium but he has to preform to get paid. It could be worse. Plus if he decides to stay it would make sense to sign long-term to guarantee his salary in the event he gets hurt. Anyone think his value shoots to the sky next year either?

gotdamn yer a genius...let's just tag him until he drops and cross our fingers on the production he puts out. he'll play here whether he likes it or not! So what if a guy who is ready to move on eats up 10-12-15-18% of the cap. We want him to be a panther gotdamnit!

lmao at 55

[SMACKDAB]

Is it GUARANTEED,written in stone already that 2010 is for certain, gonna be an uncapped year? The committee could meet anytime between now and then and all that goes out the window...right?

Lot of gambling going on if the NO CAP, has not already been guaranteed 100%.

Anybody know for sure?

[carolinarolls]

Well since he wants to go play in a 3-4, his agent should have told him he wasn't going to be making big money AND play 3-4 OLB (I would bet a lot on his not being able to be a 5-technique in a 3-4). That's an absolute no brainer. I blame the agent for not doing the $$ research and presenting it to Pep. I've been saying it all along. Pep would be a conversion project just like a bunch of college DEs coming out this year who are younger and cheaper. Why would any team consider Pep less of a risk conversion wise than a guy coming out of college? This is a bad year for them to have made that statement since there are a bunch of those tweeners coming out this draft. Yes Pep has proven he can play at the NFL level so he has that over a college guy, but he will also be 30 and changing positions, so that mitigates it.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAA!

Carey, the "Carolina academic" has peppers in the best position he could hope for outside of getting a deal done to his liking. He has guaranteed money to the tune of a 4+ million dollar raise waiting on a signature as a backup and has not exposed his client to any potential unfavorable trades that would force peppers hand to block which would make him out to be an asshole.

There are some really dumb people here but I don't think one of you is dumb enough to sign that tender this week or anytime during its existence if you were Julius Peppers and risk the potential negatives.

Then again, support for Hurneys emotionally charged decision to tag, maybe most of you have a serious problem in mitigating risk to begin with.

[Kurb]

Is the bag on your head to hide the fact that your head is actually up your ass ?

[unicar15]

If Peppers and Carey hadn't been dumbasses about their negotiations then Pep would be an even richer man right now (hard to believe) with a new deal. The fact that he demanded to play in a 3-4 when he is freakin 30 years old and has NEVER played linebacker in his career is absurd. Not to mention they gave one of the most hard-nosed GMs in the league an ultimatum...at which point, said GM laughed at them and responded "sit your ass down bitch, I'll do with you what I please..."

Bottom line is Carey is a moron, Pep is a moron, and we could be sitting pretty with a couple of really nice draft choices (with Pep getting his wish to play elsewhere) if Pep had just kept his mouth shut. Its funny because if he never backs off his wish of wanting to play in a 3-4 he will be a panther and if he announces that he wants to play DE he could go somewhere else...funny how that works.

[Kevin Greene]

But this is starting to look like Peppers and more important, his agent, overplayed their hand. And if you’re worried about Peppers being forced to come back to Carolina and dogging it, he could. But if he wants to a long term deal somewhere else, he has to play hard here.

Ya think?