Richardson challenges Peppers

Yeah, he seems to not be an outgoing guy and being the voice/face of the team may not come naturally to him.

Being the player he is a lot of guys are gonna be looking up to him. Leading by example is something he can do, and if he has guys' respect he may not have to say a whole lot.

Or maybe JR simply meant it was his time to get paid

 

Peppers is already a leader on the team so I don't think he'll have too much trouble living up to JR's expectations. He's not outwardly vocal in the media, but he's a leader, no doubt about it.

 

I don't think JR meant "you better start chewing ass!"

If Pep can lead by example, that's good enough.

 

I think he meant to send the message that our team would go as far as Pep can carry it. I don't think he wanted Pep to become Ray Lewis. Pep has the potential to be the greatest DE of all time. I think JR just wants to push him in that direction.

 

that's what I got out of it, too. Leaders aren't necessarily barking for five hours on Sunday.

 

I think it was more targeted, because Julius was a younger player AT the press conference. Basically he's saying the guys of Julius' generation needs to be the leaders now. He can't tell Mike Rucker, hell he's gone in a year or two anyways.

 

FWIW, assuming they pans out as players, the next guys to be considered "vocal leaders" will be Jon Beason and Stanly McClover.

Lucas and Rucker will attempt for a couple years, but when they've reached legit veteran status don't be surprised at all to see those guys lead. I'm also not sure about Chris Harris. He could be a possibility considering how the Chicago players hated to see him go, but he's an unknown.

But I just feel Beason and McClover will take those roles. They both did it in college, and McClover is already starting to make noise onthe field at this early stage. Once again this is all dependent on if they turn in to legit players.

 

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You don't decide to lead. Others decide to follow. I don't think Julius can fill the role of Minter (as a leader).

I think Fox has more realistic expectations of Peppers as was expressed in "Foxhole":

On Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson telling defensive end Julius Peppers that he needs to step up and lead the defense at Mike Minter's retirement press conference: I really want Julius to be Julius. I have no complaints with him. The moral of the story is that Mike Minter was a valuable part of this football team during all of my tenure and then even before that. I know he was a captain all five years. I think the message was he’s passing the baton. There are a lot of candidates, and Julius is obviously one of them.

 

you guys really make too much of a simple passing of the torch between brothers...