Defensive Notes
Two key defensive players, Julius Peppers of Carolina and Vince Wilfork of New England, will likely have seen their futures take different turns by the end of the day. Will those conflicting paths eventually land them on the same team?
For Wilfork, the development has already happened: the Patriots franchised him yesterday. Unlike the team's use of the tag on Matt Cassel last year, however, this is not the first step to trading their star nose tackle. Both sides made comments yesterday that suggested Wilfork isn't going anywhere. "Vince is a tremendous player for our team and remains a significant part of our future plans," said the Patriots in a statement. That story can be seen at boston.com.
With Peppers, who was franchised by the Panthers last year, the belief is that the Panthers will allow him to leave as an unrestricted free agent. With the deadline for assigning franchise tags just two days away, Carolina has a news conference scheduled for this afternoon. It's not officially about Peppers, but the team's plans with regard to their star defensive end are certain to come up. That story from the Charlotte Observer can be seen at this link.
One possible landing spot for Peppers? The Patriots. New England doesn't tend to pursue high-priced free agents -- Randy Moss says "they don't like to pay" -- but Peppers makes some sense for a defense that needs help with a pass rush that was 23rd in sacks last season. If New England is willing to pay more, and Peppers is willing to take less, the chances of him joining Wilfork in New England are reasonable.
--Andy Richardson
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