Blog Posts

Isner's Insights- Carolina Panthers Offseason Outlook

Posted on Mar 2, 2010 by John

Recently Marty Hurney and the Panthers organization decided not to put the franchise tag on pro bowl defensive end Julius Peppers for a 2nd consecutive year.

The good side of this is that the organization will not have to fork out $20 million to keep Peppers around for another year. By rule, if we were to franchise him that is the amount of money he was to be entitled to. Last year Julius made $16 million and a 2nd consecutive franchise tag would make his salary increase by 20%.

Although Peppers is arguably the best in the NFL at what he does, $20 million is a lot of money to pay one player, even a player as good as Peppers is. With the money saved in not franchising Peppers, the Panthers can me more aggressive through free agency and look to build the defense around a couple of players instead of just one. Hopefully Everett Brown (who we traded up for in last years draft and gave San Fran our #1 pick this year) will come into his own and show the promise that Marty Hurney and coach Fox saw him prior to drafting him.

The downside of all of this is that its gonna hurt to see him leave Carolina and suit up for another squad. Peppers is a Carolina boy through and through, growing up in Wilson and attending Chapel Hill and obviously playing his whole career thus far with the Panthers. From a fan standpoint, its gonna be a little different watching the Panthers play on Sunday without #90 on the field. Also, this story with Peppers and the Panthers organization has been well documented and has for intents and purposes ended rather ugly.

There is little to no chance that Peppers will re-sign with the Panthers via free agency, so it seems that we will be without the services of Peppers in the 2010-2011 season. I still believe that with the type of football the Panthers play, we can be a better team than next year and compete for a championship. With the running game we have and #89 lining up out wide, the Panthers will no doubt be a formidable team next year.