Tag: Julius Peppers rumors (Page 3 of 3)

Peppers signs franchise tender

June 24, 2009 /

The wait is finally over for the Panthers, as defensive end Julius Peppers will sign his tender on Wednesday according to the team’s official website. He’ll earn $16.683 million this season.

The Panthers could still try and trade him, but it’s doubtful that they find any suitors who will be willing to give up draft picks and long-term money. It’s more likely at this point that the Panthers sign Peppers to a long-term deal than trade him. Carolina wants to win now and with John Fox and GM Marty Hurney’s jobs seemingly on the line every year, draft picks for future years don’t help them in the present.

Peppers wanted to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. The Panthers hired Ron Meeks to replace Mike Trgovac as defensive coordinator and while Meeks isn’t necessarily a scheming genius, Dwight Freeney excelled under him in Indianapolis so Peppers could thrive in Carolina’s new scheme.

It’ll be interesting to hear what Peppers says once he reports to training camp in a month. If he’s going to be bitter all season about the Panthers franchising him, then it’s going to be a long year. But if he shows up hell bent on having a great year so he could hit the market and prove his free agent worth, then maybe both he and the team can get what they want out of the situation.

NFL

Peppers doesn’t show for Panthers’ minicamp

May 1, 2009 /

As expected, Panthers’ defensive end Julius Peppers didn’t show for the start of Carolina’s three-day minicamp.

The stalemate continued Friday with the four-time Pro Bowl selection, who wants to play elsewhere. But the Panthers have placed the franchise tag on him, limiting his options in free agency.

Because Peppers has not signed Carolina’s one-year, $16.7 million tender, he can’t be fined for missing the mandatory minicamp.

General manager Marty Hurney says Friday he’s had several conversations with agent Carl Carey and they’ve been “all positive.”

Second-round pick Everette Brown of Florida State got more reps in Peppers’ absence

Peppers not showing up for minicamp is hardly a story, but it could be a telltale sign that he won’t show up for training camp, which would make headlines. Carolina hired Ron Meeks in January to replace Mike Trgovac as defensive coordinator, so one would think that Peppers would be in camp come July in order to learn the new scheme.

But while head coach John Fox doesn’t seem concerned about his star defensive end not attending camps until July, at least one Carolina believes that he’ll show up until after the padded work is complete.

It would be very Michael Strahan of Peppers if he did that.

NFL

Peppers to request trade if Panthers try and tag him

February 14, 2009 /

Julius Peppers is making it painfully clear that he does not want to be a Carolina Panther next season.

Julius PeppersQ: If Carolina franchises you within the next week, what would be your recourse at that point? Have you told them you would not be showing up to minicamp or anything of that sort?

Peppers: If they decide to use the tag on me, the first thing I would be doing is requesting a trade. Anything after that is basically, I don’t know. I don’t know what would be the course of action. Basically, we would deal with that when that time comes.

Q: How did things get to this point? After seven years, what is it about the situation in Carolina, specifically, that you want to get away from?

Peppers: Seven years is a long time. Since I’ve been here, I’ve given everything I had. There’s never been a time when I wasn’t giving my all. Basically, it’s a situation I feel it’s a point in my career I just want to do different things. It has nothing to do with anything that happened between me and any coaches, me and the owners of this team. It had nothing to do with anything anybody did. It’s nothing that happened. I just feel like personally for me and m y career, it’s time for a change. That’s pretty much it.

If nothing else, you have to respect Peppers’ honesty. He’s not beating around the bush about what he wants and he’s not handing out any false hope. Some times in life you just need a change and sports are no different. Peppers wants a new challenge and he wants to seek employment elsewhere. If a person in a 9 to 5 said the same thing, a lot of people would respect that. But when it comes to athletes, we immediately want to say they’re not loyal or they’re ungrateful.

I don’t blame the Panthers for trying to do whatever possible to keep him. But it’s going to be tough.

NFL

Julius Peppers wants to play for another team next season…as a linebacker.

January 17, 2009 /

According to his agent Carl Carey, Julius Peppers is not only ready to play for another team, but he also wants to stand up and play as an outside linebacker.

Julius Peppers“Julius is ready to move on and play for another team,” agent Carl Carey said Saturday morning. “Julius has given a huge portion of his career and his time to the Carolina Panthers and he feels that he has done what he can do there. So this is more about him trying it another way. For him that means trying it outside of the Carolina Panthers.”

When asked if that means Peppers doesn’t want to play for the Panthers again under any circumstance, Carey responded flatly, “That’s right. He’s ready to move on.”

Carey said ideally Peppers wants to play in a 3-4 defensive system where he can stand up and roam the field as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker, similar to how the Dallas Cowboys use DeMarcus Ware and how the San Diego Chargers have used Shawne Merriman in the past before his injury.

So basically he doesn’t want to have a lot of run responsibility, he just wants to rush the quarterback and compile as many sacks as he possibly can. At 6’7”, 283 pounds, Peppers would easily be the biggest linebacker in the NFL.

It’s highly likely that the Panthers will franchise tag him and then attempt to trade him. Of course with his wish to play as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 system, Peppers just limited Carolina’s trading partners dramatically.

NFL, Rumors & Gossip

Newer posts »

© 2025 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑