Julius Peppers wants out; the Falcons shouldn’t touch him
See this? Pictorial evidence of a Julius Peppers non-sack. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
News out of Charlotte today is that Julius Peppers says he doesn’t want to play for the Carolina Panthers because he has been ignored this offseason. (Peppers gave a radio interview, and his answer to one question prompted the usually straight-down-the-middle Associated Press to describe it as “rambling.”) Speculation has already suggested that Flowery Branch could/should be Peppers’ next place of employment. I have one word for this:
The word is “no.”
The Falcons need a pass rusher. Peppers rushes the passer — sometimes. He had 2 1/2 sacks in 2007. He had 14 1/2 in 2008. He had 10 1/2 last season in what was a contract year. Of those 10 1/2, six came against Washington, Buffalo and Tampa Bay. He had no sacks in four games against New Orleans and Atlanta.
There are times when you watch the Panthers and you think Peppers is Deacon Jones. Other times you think he has come down with the deacon blues. (Steely Dan reference.) Put simply, he doesn’t seem to play hard all the time. And the one thing the Falcons want from all their players — and the chief criterion regarding all future acquisitions, be they free agents or draftees — is this: Do they play hard every single down?
The Falcons would be better served sticking with John Abraham, who’s coming off an uninspiring season but who’s facing a contract year himself, and trying to find a pass rusher in the draft. Peppers is going to want the moon and the stars for a new contract — he made $16.7 million last season — and he’s not worth half that. He’s a good player who sometimes does great things but who didn’t exactly lift the Panthers, who had to win their final three games to reach .500, to great heights.
And he’s a whiner. He tried to leave after last season but the Panthers stuck him with the “franchise player” tag. He lobbied to oust defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac, and Trgovac indeed left. Now he’s saying the Panthers aren’t paying enough attention to him. From the radio interview: “How can you say you want to be somewhere when you’re not really sure if they want you there because they’re not even talking to you?”
Loading ...The two words most apt to chill any conversation with the Falcons’ new brass are these: DeAngelo Hall. Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith want no prima donnas in their organization, and Peppers has those tendencies. The good plays he’d make wouldn’t be worth the trouble of coddling his ego. Besides that, he’s 30. How many pass rushers stay good at age 32, 33, 34? (Abraham is 31, you should know.)
And it’s not as if the Falcons have to do anything rash. From Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com, assessing the Saints’ chances to repeat as Super Bowl champs:
“The Falcons have a quarterback in Matt Ryan and big-time targets in Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez. They remind me a bit of the 2008 Saints — all offense and not enough defense. You can bet that the Falcons are going to work to improve that defense in 2010. If the Falcons can improve half as much on defense as this season’s Saints, anything becomes possible.”
The belief here is that Dimitroff can find enough defensive aid in this draft and perhaps free agency — and don’t forget the return of Peria Jerry and William Moore, neither of whom did much of anything as rookies due to injury — to lift the 2010 Falcons to the postseason. The belief here is that Peppers shouldn’t be needed or wanted in Flowery Branch. The MeAngelo days are done, thank goodness.
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214 comments Add your comment
North FLA Falcon
February 16th, 2010
2:29 pm
Lack of pass rush has been a real concern in the last few years. I am tired of getting these older injury prone players. Either through the draft or FA get a young, hungry stud who can cause chaos in the backfield. GO BIRDS.
Ken Strickland
February 16th, 2010
4:45 pm
ELVISINTHEHOUSE-Exactly. It takes an awful lot more than just individual talent to become an impact player in the NFL. The supporting cast around you, the OFF or DEF scheme you’re operating in and the number of snaps you’ll receive all play a part in you ability to be effective.
AUTHUR-JPeppers is a talent, but that isn’t the issue. It’s how much he’s willing to commit to getting the most out of that talent that counts, and he’s been up and down over the last 3yrs. He’s gone from 2.5 sacks in a contract yr to 14.5 back down to 10.5. Suppose we signed him and continued using our rotational DL system, which would significantly reduce the 806 snaps he got last yr. With him receiving far fewer snaps per gm, which JPeppers do you think we’d most likely get, the 10.5 sack or the 2.5 sack one?
I have no doubt you were trying to be clever when you stated, “IF THERE IS ONE THING I KNOW, IT’S THAT FIGURES LIE AND LIERS FIGURE.” That statement is exactly why I made a point of breaking down Peppers’ figures, because they weren’t telling the whole truth about what he accomplished. When you consider he accumulated the majority of this stats against mostly weak teams, 3 of them in particular(Redskins, Bills & Bucs), it shows he didn’t do that much to help his team win.
Since we managed to defeat the Redskins, Bills and Buc(twice) with our weak pass rush, we really don’t need to spend $15-18M on Peppers just to get better against teams we’re already capable of defeating.
Harry the Hat
February 16th, 2010
9:31 pm
NO to Peppers. He’d be a waste of a lot of money.
Dawgstyle
February 17th, 2010
9:42 am
I’m sure all you Pepper lovers are the same one that favored bringing T.Owens to the falcons too!! LOL look how well that worked out!! haha
Ken Strickland
February 17th, 2010
11:00 am
DAWGSTYLE-Excellent comparison. Let’s face it, we have our share of fans who have low football IQ’s and are focused almost totally on name recognition, popularity, reputation and hype. In other words, the SIZZLE. They’re either lack the understanding or prerequisite football knowledge to understand the issues that I’ve presented because they keep barking the same old crap.
How many times have we heard them bark “HE’S A TALENT, HE’S A PROBOWLER, OR IF WE DON’T SIGN HIM HE’S COME BACK TO HAUNT US. The fact is, he is a talent, but an underachieving, inconsistent talent that’s way overpriced. And yes, he is a Probowler, but he made it basically by default. Of the top 11 sack leaders from last yr, all but DFreeney, LWoodley and JAllen had significant reductions in their 08 sack totals. DWare went from 20 to 11, JPorter 17.5 to 9, JAbraham 16.5 to 5.5, JHarrison 16 to 10, JTuck 12 to 6, MWilliams 12 to 9 and RMathis 11.5 to 9.5.
Yet, with all that’s been presented so far, there will still be those who will want us to break the bank and destroy our salary cap and sign him.
jc_dawgs
February 17th, 2010
11:27 am
When accessing the Falcons 1st string Defense….the biggest need is CB followed by OLB.
Beirman…Jerry…Babineaux….and Abraham are solid at DL. Sure….Abe needs to be spelled but when only addressing our 1st string defense….we need the help at CB and OLB.
Problem is….the draft and free agency may not have great players at these positions.
dawgrific
February 17th, 2010
11:55 am
I REALLY agree with your point of keeping Abraham instead of getting Peppers, as the 2 REALLY remind me of one another, but the price is much better with J.A., and we can only hope that a contract year brings him to a very high level this year. Nice take Mark.
dawgrific
February 17th, 2010
11:57 am
I will say what I have said before, however, and that is that I trust this Falcon leadership to make the right decisions. Man does it feel godd to say that and actually mean it!
Arthur just increased my season ticket price again
February 17th, 2010
12:36 pm
I agree, I trust the current Falcons leadership (read TD and Smitty, not McKay).
I love Bierman and I think Sid has a lot of upside. However, Bierman reminds me a lot of Kerney. A 150% motor but can be made to look pedestrian (I think back 4 years ago when Walter Jones threw Kerney around like a paper doll). Abe is constant pressure and finds a way around the likes of Jones. I haven’t seen that consistently from Bierman or Sid. Also, remember Peppers gets the attention of the offense whether it’s chips from a back, a TE or rolling a play away from him.
And, comparing Peppers to TO is ridiculous. I don’t see the same antics from Peppers (and I never wanted TO nor Peerless nor most of the other hyped players). To me, the biggest drawback to Peppers is money. Jerry may work out, Moore may work out, but these are players with history of injuries. And, I think Babineaux is one dui from being off the team.
We need players that can play and play in our system. You can’t just say “no” to Peppers. I personally don’t think we’ll sign him because of the cost, but you have to look.
Also, everyone is so down on JA, but do you ever watch what he does inside? Our run defense is much better when he is on the field (unfortunately, another of the injured type the last couple of years).
Defensive needs: better play at CB, upgrade to Peterson at LB, beef on the defensive line, attitude.
Offensive needs: OL depth, running back depth, better play from Jenkins (or another wide out opposite RW), healthy HD and MT
Special Teams: PK, healthy HD, sign MK
ELVISINTHEHOUSE.
February 17th, 2010
1:22 pm
Ken Strickland,who crowned you the king of the blog? this blog is about OPPINION which means your comment is just that.By the looks of you jumping down on everybodys OPPINION brings to light that you can’t hold a simple conversation.So you don’t like peppers,o.k chill out on the i know it all responses.Because if you did you would be on the sidelines not on a simple AJC blog.
Kenny D
February 17th, 2010
3:25 pm
The Falcons, really need good cover guys, a Vet Corners and a Vet Safety. Forget about JP he is not coming cheap ! If the Falcons don’t fix those positions, we will not be watching the Falcons in the 2010 Playoff next season. We need to stop the pass !
Go Falcons !!!!!!!!!!!!
Atl1netime
March 2nd, 2010
4:05 pm
I think many of the our fans are not looking at the big picture. First, I believe signing Peppers would be a good thing. In Carolina he had to take plays off because they rarely gave him a break. In Atlanta with the guys he would have backing him he would not have to play every down therefore you may actually get more production out of him late in game when it counts most. Second, I love the D-ends that we have in place but if he were to sign (lets say) a 3 yr contract he probably if nothing else could teach our young D-ends a few tricks of the trade. We picked up Turner late in his career, Abraham late in his career, TG late in his career..and all are impact players. We dont need this guy for locker room presence or leadership…we have that ……we only need him for 1 thing…..a pass rush…….and even in his down years…..one year of his production is 2 or 3 of our young D-ends last year production…….lets not count him out just yet!!!!!
Atl1netime
March 2nd, 2010
4:08 pm
I will admit I’m not overly confident that Dimitroff will go after him but New England has been well know for aquiring a few older pieces to push for championships…I mean N.O. signed a few players in the offseason that before last year many said were in their final years and look how that worked out.
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