No Peppers in New England

It looks like all that speculation about Julius Peppers leaving the Panthers might be for nothing. Peppers’ options are quickly dwindling with the upcoming start to the 2009 NFL season, and it looks as if one more door has been closed for the quarterback-eating defensive end. Although nothing has been nailed down, reports have surfaced that the New England Patriots are going after Oakland defensive end Derrick Burgess as the player to fill the shoes of Mike Vrabel, and if this deal goes through it will almost certainly signify the end of talks that Peppers will make a run with the Patriots.

There have also been speculations of Peppers being sought after by the 49ers, but seeing as Peppers has a demanding list of teams he will play for, we highly doubt the 49ers are one of them. In the meantime, it looks like now more than ever that Julius Peppers will go on to play one more season with the Carolina Panthers. When recently asked about Peppers’ absence from the team, Carolina QB Jake Delhomme said, “If we were playing today and he wasn’t here, yeah, I’d be disappointed. Things have a way of working themselves out. I don’t think there’s any doubt we’d love to have Julius out here.”

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