John Fox Shrugs At Cap Relief From Peppers Trade

Some league observers believe that the Carolina Panthers are motivated to trade franchised defensive end Julius Peppers because they need to clear his $16.683 million cap number off the books. On Wednesday, coach John Fox said that the decision on Peppers won’t be driven by dollars and cents. “I don’t know what [cap] number he was last year but it had to be close,” Fox said, according to Ron Borges of the Boston Herald. “I was comfortable with that. I don’t like to get into what people make but he’s a Pro Bowl-caliber player who I’ve been comfortable with for seven seasons.” Actually, Peppers’ franchise salary for 2009 is 20 percent greater than last year’s cap number of $13.9 million. So, in other words, Peppers will make nearly $3 million more this season. So, in other words, last year’s number isn’t close to this one. “I don’t get into salaries. I don’t know what Elton John makes or Bono makes. I’m sure they make pretty good numbers too,” Fox added. “It’s part of the formula. Everybody operates under the same [salary cap] deal. There are a lot of people who have big numbers on guys. You deal with it.” Right, but the reality is that the Panthers are carrying $16.683 million that otherwise could be spent on other players until Peppers is signed to a long-term deal that would reduce the cap number significantly -- or traded to a new team, which would drop his cap number to zero dollars, zero cents. Fox also is trying to create the notion that he won’t allow Peppers’ stated desire to be traded to influence the team’s approach. “The difference is there are contracts,” Fox said. “That’s professional sport. You can’t just do what you want when you want.” And so it remains to be seen whether the Panthers keep Peppers or trade him. For more on the procedure that would apply to trading Peppers or any other franchise player, click here.