If Peppers wants out, pay cut best bet

The word "sacrifice" is chronically overused in sports. It's akin to college kids having to make really rough choices on a Friday night.

Do I get the pizza or buy the six-pack?

So when the idea of sacrifice is broached in regard to Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, the collective eye roll of America's football-loving public might be strong enough to affect gravity. But there's the choice, a "sacrifice" as it were, that Peppers must make if he really wants what he says he wants: out of Carolina.

Peppers was fifth in the league with 14½ sacks in '08.

(Bob Donnan/US Presswire)

In order to facilitate that, he most likely must take less money than he would earn with the Panthers. A lot less. In fact, probably enough that a graph of his portfolio would resemble the past six months at AIG or Jim Cramer's approval ratings over the past two weeks.

Here's a quick rundown: Peppers is due to make $16.8 million this year after being tagged by Carolina as its franchise player. Furthermore, if Peppers signs the one-year tender, doesn't agree to a long-term deal with Carolina and is franchised again next year, he's eyeing $20.16 million – minimum.

For those who don't add quickly, that's potentially $36.96 million for two seasons. That also follows the $13.9 million that he made in 2008 with Carolina (potentially $50.86 million over three years without a new long-term deal).

The $39.96 million is a particularly important number because it figures to be the starting point for the guaranteed money in a long-term deal sought by Peppers' agent/close friend Carl Carey. Given the reported seven-year, $100 million deal that Albert Haynesworth signed three weeks ago with Washington, which included $41 million in guarantees, you can quickly see where Peppers is going as he enters the eighth year of his career and is coming off a career-high 14½ sacks.

Or not going, as it were.

"You have the idea right on the contract," said an NFL source with knowledge of what Peppers wants.

"Julius wants to be paid just like everybody else," a source close to Peppers said. "He thinks he's better than [Minnesota defensive end] Jared Allen or Haynesworth or [Indianapolis defensive end Dwight] Freeney. Why shouldn't he want that? Heck, why shouldn't he say what he's already said. He wants to win."

The problem is that Peppers only wants to win in certain places. He wants to go to a team that plays a 3-4 defense so he can play outside linebacker. The New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys are apparently among five teams on his wish list.

The idea of Peppers going to the Patriots has created a great buzz, but it's almost completely unrealistic.

Would New England coach Bill Belichick love to have Peppers on his defense? Absolutely! And it's not that the Patriots can't afford to get Peppers. It's what he would do to the rest of their team's salary structure.

After this season, defensive linemen Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork come up for new deals. So does Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins. But here's the real sticky situation: After the 2010 season, quarterback Tom Brady does too. Brady will be 33 and, assuming he recovers from injury as expected, will still have plenty of good years left. Furthermore, Brady took a relatively team-friendly deal of six years, $60 million before the 2005 season. Don't expect Brady, who will make $5.3 million in base salary and bonus this season and $6.5 million in 2010, to come nearly as cheap this time … especially if the Patriots give Peppers the kind of mega-deal Brady wants.

Subsequently, expect the Patriots to go after 34-year-old Jason Taylor in the coming weeks rather than trade for Peppers.

There's speculation whether Peppers is willing to take less money for a "better" situation, but let's look at this from a practical standpoint. Any guy who is looking at $36.96 million over the next two years isn't taking $40 million for four.

The situation is the same for Peppers in Dallas, where the Cowboys are wrestling with what it's going to cost to sign DeMarcus Ware to a long-term deal. Ware, another one of the league's premier pass rushers, has 53½ sacks in his first four seasons, including 20 in 2008 and 34 over the past two.

That total of 34 is double what Peppers has had the past two seasons because Peppers slumped to 2½ sacks in 2007. Still, he's demanding a top-of-the-market deal and has the one-year tender numbers working in his behalf.

Not working in his favor is that most 3-4 teams don't believe in overpaying for that outside linebacker spot if they can avoid it. Pittsburgh has gotten by for years with keeping the price down at outside linebacker, going from Greg Lloyd to Joey Porter to now James Harrison while keeping cost down.

That's why Peppers will have to make a "sacrifice." If he really wants to play for the Pats or Cowboys, he'll take a lot less money.

In other words, he's not playing for the Pats or Cowboys.

Other 3-4 teams either don't go after high-end talents like Peppers (cross Pittsburgh off the list) or would have to do some serious shifting of their roster (Cleveland and San Diego) to make it happen.

More likely, Peppers will have to be willing to work things out in Carolina, where he has his best chance to win. If he really wants out the way he says, there are only a handful of 3-4 teams that can afford him, such as the Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers.

While each of those teams is interesting, are any of them that much better than Carolina?