Beason's gonna scold Peppers

[hooknladder]

As Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers plays toward unrestricted free agency in the uncapped year of 2010 (where, at worst, he'll make more than $20 million for one season in Carolina under the franchise tag), he's not performing like a guy who's chasing a $100 million carrot.

 

In three games, Peppers has one sack and ten tackles.

 

And so linebacker Jon Beason, a true team leader and one of the best young linebackers in the league, plans to have a chat to Peppers.

 

Beason shared his plans -- which will now not be a surprise to Peppers -- during a weekly appearance on WFNZ radio in Charlotte.

 

After watching Vikings defensive end Jared Allen generate 4.5 sacks against the Packers on Monday night, Beason decided that "I'm going to have a conversation with [Peppers]."

 

"The pressure is what you want to see . . . the intensity," Beason said.

 

The discussion will be, per Beason, "brief and to the point."

 

He said that he'll say, "I need you to be there with me. I need everything you've got. That's it in a nutshell."

 

Peppers has been an up-and-down player at various points of his career, which began way back in 2002 after he was sandwiched between David Carr and Joey Harrington at the top of the draft.

 

After getting only 2.5 sacks in 2007, Peppers registered 14.5 in his contract year of 2008. He then made a push to get out of Charlotte. No one was interested in signing or trading for Peppers, to whom the Panthers had applied the franchise tag.

 

But while he played well in his contract year, this is another contract year. Unlike former Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who put the pedal to the metal for two straight seasons before striking it rich in free agency with the Redskins, Peppers seems to be slipping back to his 2007 form.

 

And, frankly, if the lure of a nine-figure contract won't wake Peppers up, nothing Beason says will do the trick, either.

 

 

 

 

.........get some time on the job

[hooknladder]

Beason apologizes for calling out Peppers

Posted by Mike Florio on October 15, 2009 8:02 PM ET

Last week, Panthers linebacker Jon Beason said during a radio appearance on WFNZ in Charlotte that he planned to talk to defensive end Julius Peppers, who is playing more like a guy who has just gotten a big-money, long-term contract and less like a guy who is actually still chasing one.

 

Of course, once Beason made his declaration to . . . the entire Charlotte listening area, there was no reason to talk to Peppers. And so Beason didn't, and won't.

 

"After what happened I realized I was wrong and there are certain things that you shouldn't say in the public and there are certain things that should remain in-house," Beason said Thursday, again on WFNZ. "That is where I made my mistake. After I got a lot of negative pub[licity] from it I decided not to talk to [Peppers]. . . . I shouldn't have said what I said and I decided not to talk to Pep afterward."

 

Regardless of whether Peppers caught wind of Beason's remarks -- and surely he did -- teammates believe it's unnecessary to talk to Peppers, publicly or privately, about his performance.

 

"Julius is not a hermit crab. He knows, he reads the papers," linebacker Na'il Diggs said, according to Steve Reed of the Gaston Gazette. "I'm sure there are all kinds of pressures from the outside, from the media, talking about him or whatever. He's been getting it all offseason, so I'm sure it's nothing new to him. He knows exactly what's out there. It doesn't need to be brought to light, underlined or highlighted. I think Jon, in all fairness, didn't really try to offend anybody or call anybody out."

 

"It's one of those things that's a real sensitive situation and he could have handled it a lot better," defensive tackle Damione Lewis said. "I think he knows that."

 

Either way, Peppers needs to step it up. And if being called out upsets him, he can dry his eyes with the more than $17 million in small bills that he's received for a single football season. Though 25 percent of said football season, he has 3.0 sacks.

 

Peppers got two of them against the Redskins, in the days after being called out.

 

So, frankly, someone should call him out every week.