» Peppers wants out, has Houston connections

Jan

17th

Peppers wants out, has Houston connections

Filed in: Free Agency, Houston Texans & NFL
Posted by: Chris on January 17th at 12:02AM

In addition to the contract implications, would you be willing to part with a first round draft pick and several additional high draft picks to acquire 29 year-old Julius Peppers? I wouldn’t, but the way things are going, the Texans will at least have that option via sign & trade.

For a months now, I’ve been posting on blogs and message boards trying to keep people from getting excited about the possibility of Julius Peppers coming to Houston. I keep saying “Carolina is going to franchise him. It’s just not going to happen, and even if they don’t – the price tag will be too high.”

Peppers does not want to return to the Panthers
It could most assuredly still go down that way – but do you really want to keep a guy who clearly doesn’t want to be there anymore? This from ESPN.com:

“The front office has been informed of my desire to explore opportunities with other NFL teams following the expiration of my contract next month,” Peppers said in a statement released by his agent Carl Carey. “At this point in my NFL career, I am seeking new challenges that will allow me to grow, develop and reach my personal potential on the football field.

“I strongly feel that making a move at this time is in my best interest. I appreciate the entire Panthers organization and am thankful for the seven seasons I’ve spent with the team.”

Interesting. Very interesting. Still – he’ll come at too big a price, and he’ll probably want to go somewhere that offers him an immediate chance to get a ring. But what if he wanted to come to Houston?

The Houston connection
You’ve probably already seen this article:

“Of course, the Panthers would have the option to accept or decline any trade offer Carey brings to the table, and it’s unlikely if this were to come to fruition that he’d go anywhere in the NFC South. Peppers seems to like the Houston area, so the Texans are certainly an option. Imagine Peppers playing opposite former North Carolina State star Mario Williams?”

That was written for a website called CarolinaGrowl.com, by a writer named Steve Reed. He also writes for the Gaston Gazette.

… and a further explanation of the Houston connection
I e-mailed Steve and asked him to expand on the above excerpt… I wanted to know more about Reed’s statement “Peppers seems to like the Houston area.”

I received a response which I have posted below in its entirety:

“Hey Chris:
I can tell you that he hangs out there in the off-season quite a bit,
he has friends there and his agent lives there, too. He can kind of get
lost in Houston whereas he can’t here in Charlotte as everybody recognizes
him. Hope that helps. -Steve”

It certainly helps in one way, Steve – it’s going to serve to get my hopes up that by some miracle, Julius Peppers could end up in a Texans uniform in 2009.

I invite you all to now be the wet blanket that I’ve been for so many others on this subject, because I’m starting let myself get a little bit excited. I don’t know Steve Reed, but nothing he said above was outlandish or earth-shattering. He was just passing information that I have no reason to believe isn’t the truth. It’s not like he said “Julius Peppers wants to go to Houston.” He merely mentioned that he does in fact have a connection to the city.

Still, the Texans would have to break character to land him
The Panthers would be bonkers to not franchise tag Peppers now that they know they have no chance of re-signing him. If they don’t tag him and allow him to hit the open market – they get nothing at all for one of the premiere pass-rushers in the NFL.

Carolina will obviously be more concerned with what they want rather than what Peppers wants – so to have any chance to land him, Houston will have to pay an insanely steep price. The price to bring Jared Allen to Minnesota was a first round pick, two third round picks, and a swapping of sixth round picks. Being that Peppers is three years older than Allen, I would expect Carolina won’t expect that much for him – or at least, not much more.

You KNOW this plot is going to thicken.

9 responses. Wanna say something?

Buck
Jan 17, 2009 at 02:09:53

The only thing that keeps me from dreaming this dream is that I just don’t think the Texans will tie up that much money on the D-line. However, let’s just ponder for a second the possiblity of signing Peppers, drafting Maualuga for OLB (i like him better there) and then drafting the Smith kid from Utah in the second.

Triggy
Jan 17, 2009 at 10:55:48

From what I’ve gathered, franchising Peppers would hit Carolina with $17 million on their cap. Knowing that, if they go for the tag-and-trade, they may not be in a position to demand too much given how crippling it is if he’s on their roster.

Allen OU!
Jan 17, 2009 at 12:24:10

hey, great blog, first time poster.

i thought in the article it said he wanted to play in a 3-4 defense, do you know if that is true.

also what do you think of nic harris, OU safety. is he not a real FS like we need, in the 3-4-5 round range. More of a box safety…?

Phil
Jan 17, 2009 at 14:21:00

I’m sure you’ve seen by now, but the article in the Chronical states that he wants to join a 3-4. Add that to the list of reason he won’t come.

Even if he had expressed interest, I’d rather hang on to the draft picks. We’ve got enough needs on the defensive side of the ball that I’d rather not use three draft picks on one need.

socctty
Jan 19, 2009 at 00:47:02

I haven’t seen the chronicle article; why would he want to be a 3-4? Incentive pay for things like sacks wouldn’t be as much because there isn’t as much opportunity for them. And you kind of get lost in the shuffle as a 3-4 DE; for a few years, Richard Seymour was probably the best defensive end in football but no one ever talked about him in that manner.

Re: the 17 million dollar price tag, I’ve seen it listed as 11 mill and 13 mill as well. There seems to be a lot of confusion around what the price tag for a franchised DE would be.