Tag Archives: Julius Peppers

March 8, 2010 · 6:52 AM

Free Agent Losers (So Far)

So Friday started with no big midnight bombshell on the free agent front. Sure there were plenty of rumors, but nothing big had come down the pike. Like I indicated on Friday, most of the rumors were out of Chicago and sure enough, by the afternoon the rumors were reality.

The Patriots were rumored to be in the Julius Peppers sweepstakes right up until he signed on the dotted line with the Bears. Thing is, from what I’ve read, they had an offer out there similar to putting in an offer on a house you know won’t be accepted. It was for decent money but short on the years that the Peppers camp clearly wanted.

Strike one Patriots.

Then the rumors starting flying late in the afternoon that the Patriots were in the bidding for a trade with Arizona for Anquan Boldin. Makes sense, Moss heading into the last year of his deal Boldin could step in and be the #1 for the foreseeable future after Moss departs following this coming season. Well Arizona traded with Baltimore and rumors were the Patriots weren’t going to pay Boldin and make him play out his current deal.

This outraged me so much that I actually called into 98.5 The Sports Hub and had an airing of the grievances. I compared the lack of Patriots front office balls to that of Pete “The Puss” Chiarelli and the Bruins. What are you holding the second round picks for another Bethel Johnson, Chad Jackson or Ron Brace? Get real.

Strike Two.

But all was well in Foxboro after the Patriots announced the re-signing of Tully Banta-Cain the former 7th round pick that led the Pats in sacks this pass season. I joke. It’s not a big deal one way or the other we’ll call that one a foul tip.

The Patriots also announced the long term signing of Vince Wilfork. That would be a home run. They addressed a need that was sure to bite them in the ass if they hadn’t gotten a deal done. He’s now the highest paid nose tackle in the NFL. Hopefully he plays up to the level of the contract and doesn’t become complacent.

But where to the Pats go from here?

Big Jeff suggested the Pats go after Karlos Dansby an inside linebacker, but he was scooped up by the Dolphins. Jason Taylor may be a stop gap but he’s no spring chicken.

In a year where the free agent pool was pretty shallow anyways the Patriots clearly have needs and based on the way they’ve drafted the last few years (with the exception of Mayo and Vollmer) you can’t be too high on help coming from the draft. Oh and they may be losing their best corner from last year as Leigh Bodden has indicated that he’s going to sign in Houston because they “want him” (read:pay him).

So it’s only 3-4 days into the free agent process so people don’t need to jump off a bridge or anything. At the same time with some of the moves that the Dolphins and Jets have made you have to think that the division is clearly up for grabs this coming year.

I’m not writing off next season, but from an outsiders perspective the Pats clearly have a lot of work to do. Time for Bill to get cracking.

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March 2, 2010 · 6:38 AM

No Peppers

For all the we speculate on the Pats need for a pass rusher, it’s looking like Julius Peppers isn’t going to be a Patriot.

We knew it was a long short to start with. The team still has to work out Wilfork’s extension after franchising him last Monday. Then there’s the franchise quarterback who’s heading into the last year of his deal. Basically with those two needing to get their contracts done, Peppers was a fantasy to begin with.

But Jay, where will Peppers go? The Pats are the perfect fit.

You’re correct, the Pats are a perfect fit, player wise. They need a pass rusher, Peppers is the best in the business. But because of the aforementioned contracts needing to get done they can’t afford to pay Peppers $10 million a year (or whatever it comes out to be) in addition to Wilfork and Brady.

It appears that Peppers is going to land in Washington. Here’s my issue. The Redskins paid Haynesworth $100 million last off season and they still sucked. Adding Peppers would make their D-Line the best in the league but they’d still suck. They have relatively nothing on the offensive side of the ball. Peppers wants to leave Carolina because he won’t win a championship there since he has a shitty quarterback. He’d be walking into the same situation in colder weather with Washington.

If his goal is to truly win a championship then I would think he’d make a strong play to become a Patriot. You figure if they can snag him for $8 million a year with a hefty signing bonus, they could make the numbers work even with Brady and Wilfork. Hell, if they cut Thomas, that’s like free money they can use on Peppers. Remember, no cap means no cap penalties.

So even though we all want Peppers to come to Foxboro, it’s not looking likely and Peppers could be a Redskin as soon as Friday. Maybe Jason Taylor could be a band-aid until they develop another guy. We’ll see. Free agent bonanza starts Friday.

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February 23, 2010 · 6:42 AM

Step One Of Hopefully Many

So a little before noon yesterday word starting leaking out of Foxboro that the Patriots had slapped Vince Wilfork with the franchise tag. No big deal was my first inclination. My thought was they weren’t able to finalize the long term deal and knew the negotiation window was closing so they gave him the franchise tag with hopes of working out a long term deal.

Mrs. Wilfork agrees with me (from her Twitter):

“After six years of dedicated service I do understand this is a business. With that being said it is my hope that the tag is applied for its true purpose. For the purpose of allotting more time for us to continue our talks and be able to reach a long term agreement. Only time will tell what the final result will be.”

The team apparently does too in this statement:

“Unfortunately, despite numerous conversations and proposals, the goal has not yet been realized. Vince is a tremendous player for our team and remains a significant part of our future plans. It is because of Vince’s importance to this organization that we have assigned the franchise designation as we continue to work toward a long-term agreement. We are hopeful that Vince will remain a Patriot for many years to come.”

Let’s just hope the two sides playing grab ass really mean it and they work out a long term deal. It’ll save the fans from another attempt at filling the gap with bums like Ron Brace.

But like the headline says, as Patriots fans we have to hope that this is step one of many. Teams have till Thursday to assign the franchise tag and all indications are that the Panthers are not going to assign the tag to Julius Peppers. There should be a plane ticket for Julius where ever he is, first class to Boston or Providence, a car waiting for him at the airport and a lucrative contract waiting for him to sign at Foxboro.

Julius would be step two.

That would give the Patriots a run stuffing nose tackle under contract (assuming Wilfork signs the offer) and the pass rush the Pats so desperately needed last year in Peppers. The only thing that could make it sweeter would be the signing of a shut down corner. There aren’t that many of those in the league but re-signing Leigh Bodden would certainly be a boost to the secondary.

Now for all of you licking your chops for a possible Ladainian Tomlinson signing I caution you. Remember, this guy is the same guy that broke down by playoff time several years in a row. So signing him with the intent that he’d be your feature back is a pipe dream. However, if you sign him to take the place of Fred Taylor and use him in tandem with Morris, Faulk and Maroney (assuming he’s with the team) you may have something. LT would be used less than in San Diego meaning he would likely have legs come playoff time. A clock killing running back was something the Pats were missing this past season (among other things).

So what we’re hoping for as an exciting off-season in Foxboro has started. The first domino has dropped of what should be many. After seeing a divisional rival get further in the playoffs than they did and a conference rival win the whole thing, the Pats should be hungry. Again, let’s hope it’s mercenary hungry and they bring in a bunch of hired guns.

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February 17, 2010 · 6:18 AM

Peppers, Really?

We all know that the Patriots really needed help on the pass rush last year. The hope is that instead of standing pat, they’ll actually address that need this off season.

Besides the daily will they/won’t they talk of Vince Wilfork and the franchise tag, there has been other talk. The most recent is that the Patriots are a very strong landing spot for potential free agent to be, Julius Peppers.

Based on last year’s off season they should have traded the Cassell pick to Carolina along with their own #1 in exchange for Peppers. Instead the Pats have Patrick Chung who spent most of last season on special teams and Ron Brace who was an absolute waste of a pick. Just because Brace played along side an All American in BJ Raji, doesn’t mean that Brace is an All American.

Hoping that the Patriots learned their lesson last season, let’s hope that they pursue Peppers and go after him hard. At the same time, they should franchise Wilfork and have the two of them playing on the line. Assuming you can’t work out a long term deal with Wilfork, but if you could sign both of them long term, the Pats would be unstoppable up front.

Let’s also hope that the Patriots trade up for some higher picks. Enough of this trading down for value BS. That only works if you have starters at every spot. When your current team has a bunch of B’s and C’s, trade up and get some A’s.

Get it done.

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January 13, 2010 · 6:43 AM

Pats Talk

With a day to digest and some more news trickling out of Foxboro I wanted to hit the Pats one more time. After this, barring big news, I’ll really try and do more Celtics and Bruins stuff. Which means I really have to start watching the games instead of playing Modern Warfare 2 on PS3.

So Welker was interviewed in Oklahoma yesterday and confirmed what some experts had assumed. With the tear to both his ACL and MCL he’s only going to need surgery on his ACL. The MCL can actually heal itself in a brace. Once that’s healed, then doctors can operate on the ACL. Although he didn’t discuss a timetable for a return, it’s expected that he could be back on the practice field by September playing by October. A possible PUP list candidate would have him missing the first six weeks of the regular season.

With their loss on Sunday the Patriots secured the #22 pick overall in this year’s draft. This past year #22 was the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year Percy Harvin of the Vikings. Felix Jones went in that spot the year prior in Dallas and Brady Quinn in 2007 went to Cleveland. So clearly you can pick up good talent at that spot. Let’s just hope the Pats abandon the “value” crap this year and actually realize that a first round pick is better than three second rounders that suck.

While surfing around on ESPN.com they had a column up that had you rank, what’s important this off-season for the Pats. Here’s how the people voted (Parenthesis is #1 votes):

* 1 Improving the pass rush (815) 53,109
* 2 Contract for Vince Wilfork (1,262) 51,377
* 3 Tougher players on defense (637) 45,204
* 4 Boosting depth at WR (212) 39,853
* 5 Adding innovative coaches (332) 36,667
* 6 Extension for Tom Brady (448) 33,267
* 7 Adding fresh legs at RB (112) 32,108
* 8 Shifting the offensive scheme (120) 32,034
* 9 Revamping offensive line (94) 29,596
* 10 Bringing back Kevin Faulk (32) 28,825
* 11 Bringing back Leigh Bodden (17) 25,819
* 12 Revamping personnel dept. (112) 24,031
* 13 Releasing Adalius Thomas (68) 22,844
* 14 Upgrading at tight end (4) 21,219
* 15 Trying to trade Randy Moss (21) 7,831

I think the Brady re-signing will take care of itself so I didn’t rank it as high as other people. But the top five was almost identical. They need an offensive coordinator that can actually call a game. They need an offensive line that doesn’t have Matt Light at left guard.

With the Pats being ousted in the first round, they’re not one of the final eight teams. That’s a good thing with the uncapped year next year. The final eight teams wouldn’t be allowed to sign free agents. They could only replace free agents they lost. Maybe that means the Pats do go after Peppers, who knows.

I’m just hoping that the Pats don’t make some of the mistakes that they’ve been making. Bring in some guys that buy into the Patriots team philosophy and aren’t cry babies. Get tough football players. Running backs that hit the hole opposed to playing dancing queen in the backfield. A wide out that understands the system and can compliment Welker and Moss (Ochocinco!!).

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