Can't We

Just Franchise tag Peppers for 2 more years? Keep him till he's in his 30's and send him packing after that. 31 is old for a DE/LB isn't it?

 

it continues to be progressively more expensive. It would cost $17 mil this year, and then over $20 million the year after.

I guess for those of you expecting the death of JR and/or firing of Fox for Our Lord and Saviour William Laird Cowher, Esq, franchising Peppers does hold out hope for 2010, should you have already given completely up on 2009/the franchise/etc.

 

Actually, if the team can take on that obligation and still do what they want to under the salary cap, 2010 being an uncapped year would change the whole landscape. I hadn't previously considered the ramifications of that on this situation, but it could certainly impact what happens to Peppers.

And on a related note, apparently you cannot franchise and tag separate players in the same season, so doing anything with Peppers would mean signing Gross to an extension or letting him walk.


Who's the best of our sorry beat writers? I think we ought to ask one of them to get some info on how 2010 being uncapped may affect the Panthers' plans. I doubt Hurney would say anything on the record, but you never know. Or hell, that can be Solarte's scoop.

 

They say R. Lewis is getting old & he's only 33. Peppers is much bigger and those knees can't last that much longer. I think you can only Franchise a player for 2 years, I heard 3 from somewhere. Use him up and let him walk on the downside of his career or maybe if we get another coordinator in he'll decide to stay? He has said he wants to stay in Carolina but the systems the problem.

 

in theory, there's no reason you couldn't continually franchise someone. While you could certainly do more of that in an uncapped scenario, I seriously doubt we ever get there, and there's still the matter of players receiving a salary that far past levels they currently are. A few teams might do it once or twice, but they'll end up back wanting a cap soon enough. Money isn't the issue with Peppers, if the issues he's stating are in fact sincere.

The ideal of riding him two years or so and then dropping him is kinda interesting, but if it came to that, I'd expect it could push him to a holdout. And of course you'd have to expect that you would drop him after that point, because there wouldn't be any reason to put together the megadeal it would continue to take to keep him.


And no, you couldn't franchise tag two people. The second would have to be tagged after the deadline of franchise tags has passed, unless I'm missing something.

You could transition tag Gross, but there's no reason to do so. They will most likely come up with a deal within the month and both sides state they simply ran out of time. If they can't, I imagine it's likely they'd move on, but there's not the cost prohibition of tagging Gross a second time.

 

I didn't say F-Tag 2 people I meant multiple years for one player. As much as people want to be in denial peppers leaving is a bigger issue then just his talent. This team has got playmakers in place they need to do whatever it takes to make peppers feel better and keep him in charlotte. A 1 year deal with a new D Coordinator would be a good last chance effort. I think cooler heads will prevail and he will stay in Carolina at least for a couple years if things go better next year. This will define Fox's Career.

 

I'd prefer that, but if that's not an option, I'm not going to say we failed.

And I'd really rather not get into a situation where a player dictates policy to a coach or owner. Terrell Owens in SF is a great reason to not do that. You don't let a player who has no loyalty to you determine what you should do to suddenly make him loyal.

 

A player can be franchised a maximum of three times in a row. He would be 32 or 33. If the Panthers wanted to be a dick. He could walk after that but at 33 he would show signs of slowing down and wouldn't be as productive anyway.

 

as magnus pointed out, he would cost $17 mil, over $20 mil, and the third would be almost $25 mil. that is a lot of coin to pay to a guy that doesn't want to be here. I am like many here in that i would prefer him to be here than not.

But he and his agent are already playing hardball less than a week removed from the end of the season. And this is after he was quoted as saying he wanted the best for him AND the organization. Clearly removing most of our leverage is not best for the organization.

It sucks, but I just do not see him playing for the Panthers next year.

 

Franchise a player that does not want to be here for 2 more seasons.

Peppers gets paid $$$$ for 2 seasons and SANBAGS his way through those 2 seasons with 1 sack per season.

He says he does not want to be here so after he is Franchised ,Why Produce ?