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And Peppers could die the day he signs the tender before they cut him the check and he would get nothing then too. I think the odds of Peppers getting nothing is significantly low. In fact if his end game is more to get out of Carolina, him getting the tender offer rescinded would he ideal for him.
He loses control of money he would get in a scenario where multiple teams are interested in him. Right now he can force the Panthers to take the deal from the team who is going to give him the best contract if he chooses since the Panthers can't trade him without his consent. But with a signed tender if two teams want him and a team like say the Eagles who have well over $20 million under the cap are willing to give up a higher draft pick and are willing to roll the dice on getting Peppers and then working out a deal with Peppers like the Cassel situation and other team is willing to give Haynesworth money but a lower draft pick, Peppers has no way to block a trade to the Eagles. A team like the Eagles might feel they are a Peppers away from a Super Bowl and with plenty of cap room not worried about carrying a $17 million cap hit for one year and even lose Peppers next offseason.
People laughed at me when I said that a team might trade for Cassel without a new deal in place. Cassel's cap hit isn't significantly lower than Peppers (less than $3 million). If the Chiefs are willing to roll the dice on a QB that might be a one year wonder at $14.65 million, why is is it crazy to believe that a team might do the same with a proven pass rusher like Peppers at $16.68 million? It isn't 5 years ago where teams are hurting for cap space and carrying a cap hit like that is all that ridiculous. If Carolina is willing to take a second for him, it wouldn't be all that stupid for a team who is a pass rusher away from being a legitimate Super Bowl contender to rent Peppers for a year if they have the cap room. They can always franchise and trade him away next year. The odds of the situation like this is not the highest, but it is a realistic scenario.
And why people can't see Carolina as one of those teams is what baffles me... They "carried" him last year in the final year of a salary backloaded deal that counted $13M+ against their cap and won their division. If they didn't have him tagged they'd be $23M under right now and one of the several teams who could afford to take Peppers on under a tag...
Much like Asante in 2007 the only leverage Peppers has is to refuse to report once the season starts. I believe it's been a while since a player did that for obvious reasons...of which Peppers has more on the line than any player in NFL history. They don't need him to report to camp let alone any of the other OTA's. They know how he fits in their defense, he's it's centerpiece, and he know hows to play within it.
Carolina has publicly contended from day one that they tagged him not to trade him but to play him. If they could they would extend him as they have been trying to for a couple of seasons. He isn't going anywhere unless he truly forces their hand by holding out into pre season and convincing them he has no intention of reporting for week 1. Because only at that point does trading him have more value than retaining him for the 2009 season.
At any time prior to the draft Peppers could have ramped up his chances of being traded even absent signing his tender by walking into Hurney's office and stomping is feet and making it clear he will NEVER play another snap in Carolina. Abraham did with NY. And he could have settled for the team of his choice for less than open market $$$ to facilitate a trade if it meant that much to him to control his destiny.
That reporter who did the piece on him pre draft had it right where that was concerned. If Peppers truly wants out for altruistic reasons and finances really have little or nothing to do with it, he's going to have to prove it. Otherwise the Panthers will just wait for him to his senses like the essentially good child in a somewhat uncharacteristic pout they seem to believe he is.