Promote your business or product on 700level.com. For
more information about advertising with us CLICK HERE!

Has anyone been able to explain why Peppers' production declined last year?

Once a huge Peppers fan, I think he may have just made a "Jevon Kearselike" turn in his career.

Id shy away from dealin a 2nd and millions at him.

I had Allen as my No.1 rated FA, and apparently he'll be tagged so its a no go there.

While I like Samuel and Trufant, Samuel moreso, I would NOT make my big offseason splash in that arena.

As FD and I were discussing the other day, I absolutely think the 1st round pick is a DE or a CB, and of the CBs that could/should be around when 19 rolls around, all seem capable of contributing as the immediate Nickel back now, maybe more if pressed due to injury (lookin at you Lito).

Peppers is a gamble, for sure.

It's just one of those situations where you can believe it was an off year or a sign of things to come.

If he doesn't have that season, he never becomes available, though.

One thing to consider with Pepers or any other DE is their ability to play the LDE side.

Cole seems much better and much more comfortable playing on the right side, so whoever comes in must be able to play the left side.

Definitely cross me off for Asante Samuel or Trufant as big money FA signings.

I'd sooner see the Birds use that cash to work a trade (as f-dallas pointed out) for an impact player at a position of need or use it to extend one of their own up and comers...

would be nice to know if Victor Abiamiri was a player at this time.

I wish I had more confidence in their talent evaluation.

As I said before, I would rather take a stud DE than a stud DB. I dont think a stud DE is goign to be available for a 2nd round pick. A guy like samuals is not going to be on the market that long and most trades tend to occur around the draft. It is simply to risky for the birds to hope on a DE becoming available and forgo the players in FA that are within their grasp. The truth is, the Eagles are very tightlipped about offseason plans and have already decided who and what they want and need.

I would take a DE, no doubt that this season showed the value of the passrush. As such, I think the propensity to overpay for players who will never live up to their contract will come in the form of DE's this year, not DB. I will go for the surer thing. SAMUAL. People get soooo carried away with these huge numbers and few understand the actual cap consequences. The reality is, if structured properly, the Eagles can afford to get a top DB, DE, AND WR in FA and trades without going into cap hell.

my point is signing Samual doesn't prevent them from being aggressive in other areas. They made Kearse the highest paid defensive player in NFL history in '04 and followed it up by aggressively going after TO. At the time, the deal he signed was for big bucks as well.

TO didn't make much money

Seth,
If you wouldn't make your splash in the DB market (which is clearly the richest in this years crop), where else shows signs of having impact players? Peppers? who else? I may be crazy, but I don't think the players are there...

But you don't just spend money b/c you have it and there's no other area to spend it on. That's foolish

yeah he was. Maybe not in terms of '08 $$. But he was in the top 4 of WR in terms of $$$.

And at that time in his career, before '04, it was an aggressive move.

KB, signing Samuals is not going to prevent them or hamper them from aggressively going after other areas of needs IF SOLID players become available. IT is not an exclusive move. BOTTOM LINE>

The two years he "played" for the Eagles he was not in the top 10 for WR's in terms of $.

And yes, signing Samuels would make it difficult to make any other significant moves. The TO thing was such an odd situation that it can't be used as an example of past behavior.

Peppers is a gamble, for sure.

It's just one of those situations where you can believe it was an off year or a sign of things to come.

as seth implied, i'd be very wary of giving pepper's huge money after such a dramatic decline in production, ala kearse, without a little more info on what contributed to it. simply hoping it was a "down year" seems to gloss over a lot. this guy went from a monster into nothing overnight. has to be more to the story and i'd be very wary.

But what IS Samuels?

Are you really convinced he's anything more than a run of the mill starting CB? I think he's a good player and there is no doubt about that, but to be perfectly honest, I think Lito is just as good as Samuel IF Lito is healthy.

Samuel is a really good player and a perfect player in that system, but I think someone is going to be extremely dissappointed when they sign him.

He's not Champ Bailey. He's not Chris McAllister a couple years ago.

He's just a really good player in a system that fits him perfectly...not some shutdown guy who walks in and eliminates half the field.

as seth implied, i'd be very wary of giving pepper's huge money after such a dramatic decline in production, ala kearse, without a little more info on what contributed to it. simply hoping it was a "down year" seems to gloss over a lot. this guy went from a monster into nothing overnight. has to be more to the story and i'd be very wary.

I understand completely and don't disagree. I think he's a better gamble than Samuel, though.

Plus, you could potentially trade for him and work on an extension through the season...see what he has.

Peppers' #s (per nfl.com):

2005: 16GS, 50 tkls, 10.5 sacks
2006: 16GS, 57 tkls, 13.0 sacks
2007: 14GS, 38 tkls, 2.5 sacks

You could argue that he may have been playing hurt all year, but unless you think that teams were doubling him up (and their defense was about average->below average), I don't see how giving him big money at this point will bring him back, unless you count this year as an aberration.

the other thing to consider when dropping big money on a player is a team's general track record on developing that position. as someone posted a while ago, the eagles seem to pick CB's off trees, whereas they are hopeless when it comes to WOs, for instance.

which would i be hesitant to commit big money to either samuels or trufant based on that fact alone.

You could argue that he may have been playing hurt all year, but unless you think that teams were doubling him up (and their defense was about average->below average), I don't see how giving him big money at this point will bring him back, unless you count this year as an aberration.

I didn't watch the Panthers much this year. The word on the street was he just wasn't good. Could have been injury, could have been laziness, and it could have been diminished skill but he was being handled by tackles one on one from what i read.

Part of my argument is... why drop a lot of coin on a CB who may or may impact your defense, especially when the Eagles have shown (this year anyway) that they have a very meager pass rush.

Any CB left on an island is gonna get exposed.

I just wouldn't want them to tie up a lot of cash in an area that is just going to be hurt by one of their other major needs.

If they sign Samuel or Trufant and don't improve their pass rush then that is just wasted money in my opinion.

It's hard to make a decline like that if you're just not that good. I believe he was placed on IR late in the season, which gives more credence to the thought of him playing hurt.

I don't know. If you give him a ton of $$$, you're hoping he has a resurgence and can match Kearse's 2004, but I don't really see it. What MIGHT help is the improved play of the tackles, and maybe he can reclaim that speed rusher role Kearse once had.

Just don't know what to make of last year.

If they sign Samuel or Trufant and don't improve their pass rush then that is just wasted money in my opinion.

I agree completely.

I think the one thing FB has been right about over the years is the lines are the most important positions on the team. He's taken it to ridiculous levels and they haven't always picked the right guys, but if you can really, really rush the passer...good CBs look great.

With the rule changes, even great CBs definitely look below average without a pass rush.

Peppers has repeatedly said that he was fine, healthwise, in 2007.
If he's to be believed, then the decline wasn't injury related. One thing we know about today's athlete, if there's an excuse available, their pride will have them take it, especially the injury one that's largely a 'no fault' excuse, rather than admidt its something they cant pinpoint or admit to diminished ability.

So he was placed on IR because he sucks?

The only 'injury' i know of that was talked about of any note, was some mysterious illness he had, and I thought that was in the beginning of the year, maybe even pre-season.

was he definitely IR'd?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52  53 54 55 56 57