Julius Peppers finally signs his franchise tag

4 months after the Panthers gave Julius Peppers his franchise tag he finally signed. Peppers made it clear that he did not want to play for the Panthers in 09 and sat out of every offseason practice. Today (Wednesday) he signed the 16.7 million one year deal, but could not come to terms on a long-term deal. Peppers made it clear that if he signed the tender that he wanted to be traded, after a lot of talking about him going to teams like the Patriots and Cowboys nothing ever came of it.

The Panthers could still trade him before the start of the season, actually now that he signed the Panthers could talk directly to teams with out going through Peppers agent. Although I don’t see the Panthers doing that, I think that they would rather keep one of the best pass rushers in the league on their roster.

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