Peppers tagged, Gross is $60 Million Man

   By Charles Chandler and David Scott
   cchandler@charlotteobserver.com
  dscott@charlotteobserver.com

   INDIANAPOLIS – The Carolina Panthers reached a lucrative contract agreement today with left tackle Jordan Gross and placed their franchise tag on defensive end Julius Peppers.

   According to sources, Gross received a front-loaded, six-year contract

that totals almost $60 million.

   The deal pays Gross $30.5 million over the first three years of the deal – the most lucrative three-year payout ever to an offensive lineman.

   “We’re done, I want to confirm that,” Gross told the Observer. “I’m ecstatic to be part of the Panthers.”

   With Gross secured, the Panthers placed their franchise tag on Peppers, who said on a conference call last Saturday that he’d ask to be traded if tag.

   Peppers' agent, Carl Carey, issued the following statement from Peppers this afternoon:

   "Julius was expecting the franchise tag and we will continue to seek a resolution that is in line with his professional goals."

   According to a source close to Peppers, he has a list of four teams to which he would accept a trade. Of those four, three are in the NFC, including two the source said Carolina probably wouldn’t trade Peppers to and Dallas, which doesn’t have a first-round pick to trade away.

   The AFC team hasn’t been identified, but possibilities include Miami, New England and Denver. The Dolphins and Patriots play the 3-4 defense Peppers has said he prefers, and the Broncos are said to be switching to a 3-4.

   Gross, 28, had his best season in 2008. He was selected first-team all-pro and was an NFC Pro Bowl starter.

   Gross has started 103 games in his six-year career with the Panthers, including eight in the postseason. His only missed start came last season against Kansas City, when he sat out with a concussion suffered the previous week against Atlanta.

   By franchising Peppers, the Panthers automatically were required to make him a one-year tender offer of $16.683 million. That represents a 20 percent increase over his 2008 salary cap figure. It’s nearly double the standard ’09 franchise tender requirement for defensive ends of $8.991 million (an average of the top five highest ’08 cap numbers for defensive ends).

   The franchise tag gives the Panthers the option of trading Peppers, signing him to a long-term contract extension or having him play the ’09 season under the franchise tender.

   Peppers, 29, has said he won’t sign an extension with the Panthers and wants to get a fresh start elsewhere in order to fully reach his potential as a player.