Doomsday101
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CHARLOTTE — Now that we know roughly how much Julius Peppers will get paid, the big question becomes when the Carolina Panthers’ athletically gifted defensive end will collect.
Over the weekend, the Indianapolis Colts made defensive end Dwight Freeney the highest-paid defensive player in the league, handing him to a six-year contract worth a whopping $72 million. The deal included $30 million in guaranteed signing bonus money.
With those numbers in mind, Peppers’ agent Carl Carey and Panthers general manager Marty Hurney can begin hammering out a new deal for Peppers.
While neither side will publicly admit it, both were waiting to see just how the Freeney negotiations played out because it gives them a benchmark.
Peppers’ current contract runs through 2008, so hypothetically there’s no rush to get a deal done before the start on the regular season. Nonetheless, there are incentives for both sides to reach an agreement soon, which means it’s very possible a deal could come with the start of the regular season.
For the Panthers, it’s a salary cap issue.
Peppers, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has restructured his contract so many times and reached so many of the incentives in his original rookie contract that he’s set to cost the team just over $14 million under this year’s cap and $16.1 million next season. That’s about 15 percent of the entire salary cap. The benefit of a new contract for the Panthers is it could actually give them some cap relief over the next two seasons since they can spread out the signing bonus over the next six seasons.
As for Peppers, it’s merely a matter of financial security.
There’s something to be said for striking while the iron is hot. If he were to sustain some bizarre career-ending injury next season, at least he’d have an extra $30 million in the bank.
You can bet Carey will be pushing for a new deal that surpasses that of Freeney and, in my opinion, he’ll undoubtedly get it.
Quite frankly, Carey would be crazy to settle for anything less than $72 million.
While Freeney has more sacks (56.5 to 53.5) since both players came into the league in 2002, and any NFL scout will tell you Peppers is a superior player against the run. In short, Peppers is the total package, a more complete defensive player (as well as a weapon on offense near the goal line).
And the numbers back it up.
According to NFL, Freeney has 169 total tackles in five seasons, while Peppers has 250.
In the summertime, when topics are few and far between, sports talk radio shows often debate topics like this: Who is worth more — Peppers or Steve Smith?
Clearly, when it comes to money, it’s Peppers.
Even if he “settles” for what Freeney received, which is $12 million a year, then his contract will still dwarf that of Smith, who earlier this year signed a six-year deal worth $43.9 million, or about $7.3 million per season.
That means Peppers will soon become the highest-paid player in franchise history, and it will be a long time before someone passes him.
Top-notch defensive ends simply command more money than top-notch wide receivers for one reason — they’re harder to find.
A holdout scenario should not be a concern in the Peppers talks — at least not this year. The only way that happens is if Carey raises the bar too high and talks stalemate this season and drag into next summer.
I don’t see that happening.
My guess is a deal gets done this year, perhaps during training camp.
Owner Jerry Richardson has already pledged his allegiance to Peppers, all but assuring fans he’ll be a longtime Panther. And the Panthers aren’t dumb — they knew it was going to take a boatload of money to sign Peppers.
Now it’s just a matter of doing it.
Contact Steve Reed at sreed@gastongazette.com
COMPARISON:
Peppers Freeney:
Year 5th 5th
Games Played: 76 79
Sacks 53.5 56.6
Tackles 250 169
Def passes 26 11
Forced fumbles 17 27
Fum recoveries 4 3
Touchdowns 2 1
Over the weekend, the Indianapolis Colts made defensive end Dwight Freeney the highest-paid defensive player in the league, handing him to a six-year contract worth a whopping $72 million. The deal included $30 million in guaranteed signing bonus money.
With those numbers in mind, Peppers’ agent Carl Carey and Panthers general manager Marty Hurney can begin hammering out a new deal for Peppers.
While neither side will publicly admit it, both were waiting to see just how the Freeney negotiations played out because it gives them a benchmark.
Peppers’ current contract runs through 2008, so hypothetically there’s no rush to get a deal done before the start on the regular season. Nonetheless, there are incentives for both sides to reach an agreement soon, which means it’s very possible a deal could come with the start of the regular season.
For the Panthers, it’s a salary cap issue.
Peppers, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has restructured his contract so many times and reached so many of the incentives in his original rookie contract that he’s set to cost the team just over $14 million under this year’s cap and $16.1 million next season. That’s about 15 percent of the entire salary cap. The benefit of a new contract for the Panthers is it could actually give them some cap relief over the next two seasons since they can spread out the signing bonus over the next six seasons.
As for Peppers, it’s merely a matter of financial security.
There’s something to be said for striking while the iron is hot. If he were to sustain some bizarre career-ending injury next season, at least he’d have an extra $30 million in the bank.
You can bet Carey will be pushing for a new deal that surpasses that of Freeney and, in my opinion, he’ll undoubtedly get it.
Quite frankly, Carey would be crazy to settle for anything less than $72 million.
While Freeney has more sacks (56.5 to 53.5) since both players came into the league in 2002, and any NFL scout will tell you Peppers is a superior player against the run. In short, Peppers is the total package, a more complete defensive player (as well as a weapon on offense near the goal line).
And the numbers back it up.
According to NFL, Freeney has 169 total tackles in five seasons, while Peppers has 250.
In the summertime, when topics are few and far between, sports talk radio shows often debate topics like this: Who is worth more — Peppers or Steve Smith?
Clearly, when it comes to money, it’s Peppers.
Even if he “settles” for what Freeney received, which is $12 million a year, then his contract will still dwarf that of Smith, who earlier this year signed a six-year deal worth $43.9 million, or about $7.3 million per season.
That means Peppers will soon become the highest-paid player in franchise history, and it will be a long time before someone passes him.
Top-notch defensive ends simply command more money than top-notch wide receivers for one reason — they’re harder to find.
A holdout scenario should not be a concern in the Peppers talks — at least not this year. The only way that happens is if Carey raises the bar too high and talks stalemate this season and drag into next summer.
I don’t see that happening.
My guess is a deal gets done this year, perhaps during training camp.
Owner Jerry Richardson has already pledged his allegiance to Peppers, all but assuring fans he’ll be a longtime Panther. And the Panthers aren’t dumb — they knew it was going to take a boatload of money to sign Peppers.
Now it’s just a matter of doing it.
Contact Steve Reed at sreed@gastongazette.com
COMPARISON:
Peppers Freeney:
Year 5th 5th
Games Played: 76 79
Sacks 53.5 56.6
Tackles 250 169
Def passes 26 11
Forced fumbles 17 27
Fum recoveries 4 3
Touchdowns 2 1
