PEPPERS SIGNED

I'll try to find it later tonight, but I read in two different publications last week that the "initial read" on Peppers was not awe inspiring or something to that effect. Its not my opinion at all, I have not seen him play yet, so I have no opinion on that.

Hey, I agree with you 100% on Fasani... he has nothing in the way of bargaining power, I don't expect anything exciting for him in his contract.

 

The only thing I can legitimately think of that made him sign "early" is $13 million. I can't see any other situations in play.

It's not like Leon Bender, who signed weeks after the draft, and then promptly died.

 

5 players signed, #1 signed, a valuable pick for a player who would have been unhappy as hell playing behind Peppers. Hurney probably don't even have a dime invested in the NASDAQ.

I have alot of confidence in Foster signing soon also.

These things are the best signs of a turn around in our program I can imagine. Heck fire we might win 8 games this year! I'm going to the shed and crack open a jar of the good stuff.

 

Well Hot DAMN! I am more excited now than I was during the draft. Fasani needs to take a valume if he is planning on a big multi year incentive ladened contract. Foster is a stud and will have to be payed accordingly. Hurney has done a hell of a job IMO. The Williams trade was priceless in terms of value for the Panthers. Yess sirrrr the men in black are on the right track...oops sorry bout that.

 

13 mill is very nice, but like I said, had he taken the gamble, held out a little longer and blasted the doors out in his next few showings, he could have probably got a touch more. By signing now, should his "play" not inspire the media, then getting more than he got today, would have obviously been a push.

I'm happy he closed it out, all be even happier if he does well - (I'm a Tarheel football fan)

 

I am glad we got one of the top 2 signed, cuz I knew one of them was going to be a pain in the ass come contract time...looks like it will be Foster.
Fasani is in trouble! He should have signed a week ago and left only the 1-2 remaining. Right now, he's invisible, until Foster is signed. UNLESS, Hurney gets flack from Foster/Agent and signs Fasani to spite them? Although, I would hope he wouldn't do that on a thrid string QB over a potential starting RB!

 

Hurney should start making calls to FA QB's and let Fasani's agent know about it. Give him a dealine and a contract offer, if he doesn't sign, sell his draft rights to a Canadian team and tell him to hit the bricks. There are about 6-8 QB's who are projected as 1st rounders next year, one or two will slide and we'll get a better player out of the deal.

The Texans deal with Gaffney has fucked every one on signiing their number two picks. Way to go Dom.

 

it will probably screw everything up for picks 26 and down that aren't signed, as well. The players will simply look at the signing bonus and deem that getting $1 mil up front isn't nearly enough if a second rounder is getting over $2 mil. So you'll probably see a whole slew of first rounders at the bottom signed to 6-7 year deals.

Dom's bad about this - he went to bat to get Mike Fox in 1995, far overpaying him on the first day of FA - a move that a good lot of NFL men have said, anonymously, of course, that touched off the situation of overspending that happened for so many years. Before Dom, only the elite were able to land top notch free agents, and the contracts weren't really that big.

 

Haven't seen anyone report this yet so...

KFFL

"23:45 PT: Updating an earlier story, Steve Reed reports for the Gaston Gazette the contract signed by DE Julius Peppers with the Carolina Panthers is reportedly a seven-year contract that could pay him more than $55 million, according to league sources. He will receive $13 million in guaranteed signing bonuses spread out over two seasons. Peppers’ deal will not void out after four seasons if he reaches certain incentives."

 

I'm happy to have Peppers signed and ready to go. But as a business manager, I constantly struggle with the willlingness in the NFL to pay huge contracts to players based upon speculation of future performance, and the notion of "that's what the guy last year got, so this year we've got to pay a little more." As often as not the guy last year wasn't worth it.

One player, like Sean Gilbert, who doesn't live up to the expectation can strap a team for years. Mag points out that Capers started some of this with Mike Fox, but once it's done everyone else thinks they need to repeat the mistake, as if they have no control over their destiny.

Things would be much better for players, fans and teams if folks would quit criticizing Cinncinati for their frugality and adopt some of the same approach.

There's too much ego challenge involved in teams paying such high salaries. Now that I've got that out of my system, I hope that Peppers somehow warrants that $13 million bonus that we have to buy down in order to cut him if he doesn't warrant it.