Julius Peppers Won’t Be Franchised; Will Someone Break the Bank for Him?

Rather than be forced to pay him more than $21 million for the 2010 season, the Carolina Panthers will not be placing the franchise tag on Julius Peppers as the team did last year. Yesterday, Peppers’ agent said the team would allow the defensive end to test the free agent market, where he will likely be the highest profiled commodity.↵↵Of course, one would assume that, in these days of uncapped salaries, this could mean a record payday for Peppers. Not so, says the always infallible Peter King, who yesterday reported that he was told by an NFL exec that Peppers would be lucky to get an offer of $10 million per year this offseason. Of course, with PK’s track record on such things, perhaps we can already pencil Peppers in for $20 million per.↵

↵↵The Eagles and the Patriots are the consensus favorites for Peppers’ services. New England was said to be interested in acquiring the restive defensive end throughout last offseason, but when a trade finally materialized involving a pass rushing end, the Patriots were instead sending Richard Seymour to the Raiders for a first-round pick. Seymour’s absence was apparent in New England, as was the general lack of a pass rush, given that the Pats finished 23rd in the league in sacks. So there would seem to be a greater need for Peppers in New England. But remembering the team’s efforts to get younger in recent years, and considering that the Pats balked at acquiring him last year, I’m not sure they will be falling all over themselves to get into a bidding war for him this year. ↵

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