Play Chicken; Get Eggs

OK....so no one did anything "wrong". It's "business".

Julius Peppers wanted to leave the Carolina Panthers. General manager Marty Hurney didn't want to let him go without compensation, and no one offered what he considered an acceptable deal for Peppers' rights.

Hurney uses the franchise tag, which means the Panthers offer Peppers more than $1 million per game. Peppers signs the franchise tender, guaranteeing himself almost $17 million dollars for the 20009 NFL season. It's just business.

That's what happened over the summer.

Now, the fruits of their collective labors are coming to bear.

Ma'ake Kemoeatu is lost for the season. He ruptured his Achilles' tendon during the first drill of training camp. Then, in the second preseason game, Pro Bowl linebacker Jon Beason injures his knee. The severity is not known, but rumor has it that he may have damaged his medial collateral ligament, which would likely mean several weeks (minimum) of recovery time.

The Panthers have no one to replace either player. The depth chart is full of players who have little to no NFL experience. The long snapper is a young kid, brought in to save a few hundred thousand dollars, who is replacing Jason Kyle who was outstanding but expensive. Long snapping is one of those things that ideally is never noticed. Hopefully, the Panthers long snapper will remain anonymous this season.

The reason for the lack of depth? Julius Peppers' contract. Since he is playing under the franchise tender, his entire salary counts against the 2009 cap. If he had signed a long-term deal, he would have probably had a cap number closer to $8 or $9 million (but still gotten a huge signing bonus), and the team would have had another $8 or $9 million to sign backups.

Ask any player, and they'll say that Peppers' contract squabble is "business". However, if you could give them truth serum, I bet they would say something different. Peppers said he wanted to go somewhere else to reach his full potential. That is a shot at his coaches and his teammates. Now, those same teammates (except for the injured players and the ones who had to be cut because of Peppers' contract) are playing with Peppers.

If there aren't some chemistry issues, then the Carolina Panthers have the most professional group of players in the history of pro sports.

There are veterans available who could help the Panthers. Thanks to Julius Peppers (along with Marty Hurney), the Panthers just can't afford them.