I still don't think the Panthers can keep him and they already freaked out by signing Jake Delhomme to a 40 million dollar deal. The Panthers are going to have do a couple more of those extentions or cut a few more players.
Just out of curiosity, why do you feel that they 'can't keep him?' And why are they going to have to 'cut some players?' For what specific reason?
Since the important waves of FA are over, how else can they improve their team besides the draft? Especially by getting rid of their best player? Who else do you see them targeting or needing to sign?
They had more space than we did, even before extending Delhomme, which I believe will free up approx. 3 million more. I believe they'll be about 10 million under the cap. They just shored up the O line by finally signing Gross, have the best rushing attack in football, have Mohammed and Smith on the outside, and just extended their franchise QB, who they have a much better record when playing. They seem pretty set on offense to me. On defense, they have arguably the best 4-3 DE in the game on the line, young stud Jon Beason as one of their LB's, and just extended one of their better CB's in Chris Gamble. They obviously have a hole or 2 to address, like most teams, but did have the 2nd overall seed in the NFC. If not for a major upset by a double-digit underdog in AZ, they probably at the very least, go to the SB.
Whatever needs they may have should be addressed via the draft, and even then, they could still make a couple plays in FA--although I really don't see who is left that they could use. They have plenty of money to sign their rookie pool players from the draft, and even then, could have plenty of money left over. (7-8 million)
I don't know if he'll come here or not, although it seems very unlikely. But I can't really see why some people still think at the end of April, that they're so cap strapped. I'm just asking, in your opinion, what else do you feel needs to be done? More importantly, how can they do this, cut their best player, and still improve their team?
I think Peppers expected a bigger play for him, and when that didn't happen, he became somewhat stuck. The best thing for him to do now, is to accept the 17 mill guaranteed this yr--and then get another 25-30 million guaranteed on the open market next yr, where the uncapped yr could possibly get him even more. That's somewhere around 45 mill guaranteed over 2 yrs. IMO--he signs the tender when he's certain Carolina won't trade him, probably over the summer, or possibly sooner--if they can agree not to tag him next yr. This way he makes the most guaranteed money possible, even more than Haynesworth over his first 2-3 yrs, and also gets his wish, being able to leave Carolina after this season, also demanding the most attention during FA next yr.
