What about Julius Peppers?

Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers made a big stink about being traded from the Carolina Panthers this past offseason, but after receiving a $16.7 million one-year salary after being slapped with the franchise tag, Peppers is back in Carolina and, for once, silent. The big name being tossed around Carolina with dissatisfaction lately is Jake Delhomme, but is this sudden transfer of the spotlight from Peppers to Delhomme necessarily a good one for Peppers?

Peppers knows he needs to punch out a solid season this year in order for other teams to pick him up at a hefty price next year, but so far Peppers just hasn’t proven his worth this season - especially in last week’s game against the Falcons. Peppers made just two tackles in last week’s game, putting no exceptional pressure on QB Matt Ryan, and even though his role as a defensive end doesn’t always give him the opportunity to post astounding numbers, he still needs to be playing above par to be noticed around the league. Does this mean that Julius Peppers is to blame for last week’s loss against the Falcons? Of course not, just like it wasn’t only Jake Delhomme’s fault that the Panthers lost to the Eagles in Week 1 of the regular season. When Julius Peppers is hot he’s on fire, and we’re only waiting for that explosive Carolina team from 2008 to come back and prove its worth - perhaps next week when the Panthers play the Cowboys in the Monday Night Football game of Week 3.

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