The Peppers thread - poll

thanks for the replies.

Restructure Pepp to a Panther-friendly deal. Sorry, but he has to take some of the hit for a bad 2007. Some of that is on him, and some is on the rest of the D (read Trgo and schemes). He eats some of it, proves he's worth Freeny-esque money, Panther cap hit is lightened, Pepp can play into that big contract (or be shown the door otherwise).

Deal?

 

That's not entirely accurate. We did restructure him, but Peppers' cap figure is huge because that's basically the way all top 5 rookie contracts are structured.

He has no incentive to take a shortened contract or much less than Freeney money. Even if he has another poor year, someone will still throw huge money at him based on his talent and past production. The best we can hope for in terms of a contract is something around $10 million per for 5-7 years.

 

No doubt. If we don't pay him SOMEONE will.

 

If Peppers will take a deal like that then yea great do it tomorrow. I somehow doubt he is going to do that though. He expects to cash in like Freeny did. He has said in a couple of interviews that I have read that he does not feel like this bad year should affect his contract situation.

I think the best case scenerio is a deal where he gets paid a lot of cash but leaves the Panthers an out if he continues to suck. Hard to do that though when he is going to want a huge signing bonus.

 

I'd pay him what I need to keep him under contract before the season starts based on his past performances. The panthers have plenty of time to evaluate his mental and physical health before the season starts. If he plays like he has in the past and hits the open market, how much does it cost us then? IMO, Freeny type money now is going to be less than Freeny type money a year from now.

 

As long as you are getting a Feeny type player then paying him is not a bad idea. There is a real danger of making a Sean Gilbert level mistake with this though.

 

I voted for option #1. But I've made no secret of wanting him outta Charlotte.

 

why? before last year name a more feared player on D

 

At that time, I was thinking Pep just mailed in the season -- that he didn't produce because he didn't feel like putting forth the effort. I have since changed my mind and I now think Pep was mentally lost in Trgo's defensive scheme last year.

 

The Gilbert fiasco and signing Peppers to a new contract aren't even in the same ballpark.

It's going to be a lot cheaper to do another contract now than if he has a mildly productive year and everyone else is bidding for him.