Saturday, January 17, 2009

Peppers wants out

The Julius Peppers era in Carolina Panthers football seems to be at end, thanks to a statement released to ESPN by his agent. The statement saying Peppers wants a change of scenery, and that he "could thrive in a new situation."

Nothing the Panthers can do about it--if he wants to be elsewhere, he wants to be elsewhere.

The Panthers should grant his wish, but they should do it on their terms.

Peppers wants to go, so Carolina should franchise him, and then trade him. What team in the NFL wouldn't give up draft picks for a proven commodity like number 90? He had a career high 14.5 sacks in 2008, a huge improvement from his 2.5 in 2007. Pepp is a gifted athlete, and will make some team quite happy. Or maybe he won't.

Peppers is a very guarded person, not very open with his thoughts or emotions, and if he goes someplace else, and tanks (like 2007), he'll be a very wealthy player that the new team will wonder what they were thinking giving up draft picks to land him. And Peppers won't have much to say about that.

Bottom line on this deal is the Panthers have found out early enough that they can figure out the best fit for THEM. Peppers wants out, so show him the door with a handshake and a kind word., but make sure that the door remains open for the spoils of trading away one of the franchise's greatest players. You have to get value for him, and Peppers is very valuable. Hence, the Panthers have to get great value in moving him.

That being done, the Panthers can now focus on locking up Jordan Gross to a long term deal. The off-season will now become a bit more critical as the Panthers try to find a guy that can be the kind of player that will take Peppers' place (which won't be easy).

Suddenly, things just got more interesting for the Panthers, and they won't touch a football until the post-draft mini-camp the first weekend in May.

Oh, one more thing. Trade him to a team you NEVER play on a regualr basis. Like San Diego or something. Nothing would be worse than seeing Peppers on a regular basis, like on an NFC South roster.

Mike Solarte

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think if the DE from NC State, Willie Young, if he chooses to enter the draft that is. I think hed be a great person for Carolina.