Peppers makes a clear statement

I wonder if he would change his mind if we fired Trgo and brought in a coach who runs a 3-4 and promised to switch him to LB?

LDE Lewis
NT Kemo
RDE Brayton/Johnson

OLB Peppers
ILB Diggs/Connor
ILB Beason
OLB Davis

That sounds workable to me if you had the right coach. Kemo is not the best NT but we are soft up the middle in a 4-3 so we are going to need to address DT anyway.

 

in consecutive years our two best defensive players have wanted out of charlotte, not good.

 

being as weak as we were last season at DT it seems like last season would have really been the season to make the switch, regardless of Pep's recent comments. that would have put the best players on the field for our defense.

 

Brayton and Johnson are NOT 3-4 ends nor is Davis a 3-4 OLB.

 

or just rearranged what he have out there so it doesn't work as well if you follow thelt's model.

 

Agreed. The whole reason you see teams who switch schemes basically revamp their entire defensive roster is that few players are capable of playing well in both. Kemoeatu could actually be a decent 3-4 end, but I wouldn't put him on the nose and we don't have anyone on the roster who could fill that role adequately. Our LBs are also clearly 4-3 guys, although that's less of a problem for the inside linebackers.

Damn. I just didn't expect that I could feel worse about this team and then Peppers does this. Wow. How do you go from the #2 seed to this in one week? Man oh man.

 

I take full responsibility for this. For years and years I held off on getting a jersey but three years ago I finally caved. Knowing whomever I got a jersey for would leave, I was down to Smitty and Pep. Obviously, I got Pep.


This sucks man, I'm with WYDD. This is going to be like a really bad breakup. I have a feeling it's going to be worse than Zo leaving, as at least we got Glenn Rice for Zo. If we can get a Rice for Peppers that will make it hurt a little less, but it usually doesn't work that way. We'll get a pick that hopefully we don't fuck up, but you still have to replace Pep.

Damnit

 

at least you got three years use out of it, i bought my pep jersey last season, doh! now i'm going to be like the guy pimping the buerlein jersey.

 

2008 team sack leaders:

Julius Peppers - 14.5
Charles Johnson - 6
Tyler Brayton - 4.5
Damione Lewis - 3.5
Thomas Davis - 3.5
Richard Marshall - 2
Na'il Diggs - 1
Charles Godfrey - 1
Hilee Taylor - 1


This is just incredibly depressing. Not only does the defense lose its one true sack threat, but also an above average defender against the run. Certainly it means more cap space to work with (and I agree with whoever said that Gross benefited from this tremendously), but even if we do get a first round pick by tagging and trading him, no defensive end is going to fill those shoes. No matter what we do, Peppers leaving makes the defense unquestionably worse. The issue is how you minimize the decline, and I'm stumped. I guess you just go with even more situational substitutions where one DE plays on run downs and another plays on obvious passing downs, although that makes passing on first down easier than ever.

 

Peppers should talk to the Freak and see how that change worked out for him. Peppers is making a huge mistake and it looks like we may have to pay for it. I hope we don't get stuck with a 2nd round pick for him or worse still nothing at all.