Julius Peppers Feels Slighted By Carolina Panthers’ Silence
February 9th, 2010 – By Huey
It seems as if Julius Peppers’ time in Carolina is finally at a close.
Peppers told a radio station on Monday that he is frustrated by a lack of contact by the the Panthers front office and will not sign a new deal with the team.
The team that drafted him with the 2nd overall pick in 2002 has constantly insulted him, Peppers told WFNZ-AM, first slapping him with the franchise tag last season, and now giving him nothing but “silence”.
“Last year, at the time, that was the option that I wanted most,” Peppers said about staying with the team. “Now it’s not.”
Peppers is the franchise’s career-leader in sacks, but the front office has been reluctant to reward him with a big extension after he rejected a record deal in 2008. The team offered to make him the richest defensive player in the league that year, but Peppers turned it down.
“That deal was to make me the highest-paid defensive player, but slightly, very slightly,” Peppers said. “I didn’t really feel the sincerity behind that deal.”
He went on to record a career-high 14 1/2 sacks in ’08, and the team designated him as their franchise player, which means he is entitled to a one-year salary of $16.7 million.
“I never felt that they did that with the intent to keep me here,” Peppers said. “I felt like they did that in attempt to send me off somewhere else to get compensation, draft picks or whatever.”
Since then, the team has shown little interest in discussing the deal further, and have all but cut the line between both parties.
“How can you say you want to be somewhere when you’re not really sure if they want you there because they’re not even talking to you?” Peppers said.
Although they haven’t made an official announcement about their stance, it is believed the team is conserving money to either draft or sign a big-name quarterback, or save up for a big coaching candidate in 2011. John Fox’s option was picked up after the regular season, but it is not believed that he will return after that.
As noted by the AP, Carolina can still use the franchise tag once again, but that would require a 20-percent pay raise, and if it hopes to trade him, will have to allow Peppers and the second team to agree to a long-term deal.
He would also get extra money for every playoff win if the Panthers keep him. The Panthers are longshots to compete in next year’s playoffs with 40-to-1 odds to win the Super Bowl in most NFL Sportsbooks.
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The only way I could see Carolina keeping Peppers is if they replace Jake with Matt. They don’t need another qb at this point especially after seeing how well Matt progressed in his five game starts. He did extremely well against the Giants who were fighting for a playoff spot. The other positions the panthers need to work on are the wide out spots, steve does need to some help, but Kenneth Moore could be the slot receiver needed and make Jarret a 5th receiver. The Panthers also need a good solid back up for brad I know fiametta is good but they need someone who can last the whole season and rotate in and out with hoov.
jmo.