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Friday, February 1, 2019

Julius Peppers Hangs 'Em Up

By John Turney
After 17 seasons and 266 games, Julius Peppers called it a career today. He began that career in 2002 with the Panthers, the second overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft and ended with the Panthers with stints with the Bears and Packers in between.

He was a four-time All-Pro (three consensus) and was a second-team All-Pro in two additional seasons. He was a nine-time Pro Bowler and PFJ named him our All-Pro nickel rusher in 2017 as well.

In addition to those honors, he was—

• NFC Defensive Player of the Year (2004)
• NFL Alumni Defensive Lineman of the Year (2004)
• NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2002)
• NFL All-Decade Team (2000s-Second-team)
• 4x NFC Defensive Player of the Month
• 7x NFC Defensive Player of the Week

His 159.5 sacks and 51 forced fumbles are among best-ever as are his 13 blocked kicks. His sack total is fourth on the official list and fifth when pre-1982 sacks are included. He also picked off four passes and returned four for touchdowns and is credited with 86 passes defended unusually high for a defensive end.

Here is his career in a capsule—
So, where does this place Peppers in the All-time realm?

Here is a chart comparing defensive ends in the Hall and where Peppers' numbers place him—
As can be seen, Peppers fares well against Hall of Famers, right behind Michael Strahan and ahead of Jason Taylor, two recent inductees.

We expect Peppers to get in the Hall right away, if not first ballot, soon thereafter. However, it has to be noted that first-ballot among defensive ends can be very tricky. Jason Taylor got in right away and thus has his named etched with Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Gino Marchetti, and Deacon Jones as the only defensive ends to be first ballot. Strahan had to wait a year. Jack Youngblood, whose credentials were very close to Deacon Jones, had to wait more than a decade. As did Carl Eller. So it's clear the voters in the 1990s mucked up the defensive ends/first ballot thing pretty badly.

The only slight negative we see is a lack of tackles for loss (run stuffs) in the running game, totaling 62.5 in his career. Jason Taylor, not known as a supreme run stuffer had 76.0, Willie McGinest another edge player had 89.0, Terrell Suggs has 94.0 stuffs but that can be seen as something to those players' credit rather than a big issue for Peppers.

So in five years, we will see, but it's apparent that Peppers had a long and unique career with special skills and he will be treated fairly by the voters.

5 comments:

  1. Peppers IMO will go down as a top 3-5 DE of all-time, he was a versatile, dominant, disruptive freak of nature and made more game changing plays than nearly any defensive lineman in NFL history. He was more than just a one trick pony pass rusher, he could sack and pressure the QB, force and recover fumbles, intercept and bat down passes, block field goals, set the edge against the run, and take on double teams freeing up his teammates to make plays. He was a transcending athletic freak at DE the likes the NFL had never seen before him, and very few since.

    https://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/topic/140116-julius-frazier-peppers-thread/

    https://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/topic/155461-julius-peppers-announces-retirement/

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  2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Peppers#2018 season

     NFL awards and honorsEdit
    NFL Rookie of the Month (10/02)
    2002 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
    Pro Football Weekly All-Rookie Team (2002)
    2004 NFC Defensive Player of the Year
    2004 NFL Alumni Defensive Lineman of the Year
    2013 Brian Piccolo Award
    2018 Panthers' Ed Block Courage Award
    NFL 2000s All Decade Team
    Pro-Football-Reference All 2000s Team
    100 Sacks Club
    2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 NFC Pro Bowl
    2004, 2006, 2010 All-Pro First Team
    2008, 2009, 2012 All-Pro Second Team
    Seven time NFC Defensive Player of the Week (11/13/06, 11/9/08, 11/1/09, 11/18/10, 12/23/12, February 10, 2014, January 10, 2017)
    Four time NFC Defensive Player of the Month (11/2004, 10/2006, 11/2010, 11/2011)
    Panthers franchise recordsEdit
    Most career sacks: (97)
    Most career forced fumbles: (34)
    Longest Interception return: 97 yards (against the Denver Broncos on 10/10/04)
    NFL records and accomplishmentsEdit
    Fourth most sacks in NFL history: 159.5
    Tied for third most double digit sack seasons in NFL history: 10
    Tied for fifth most games with at least three sacks: 9
    Tied for fifth most multiple sack games in NFL history: 37
    Second most forced fumbles in NFL history: 51
    Second most interceptions by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 9 *11 career interceptions including time played as a linebacker
    Most interception return yards by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 192 yds *293 career interception return yards including time played as a linebacker
    Most interception return yards in a single season by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 143 yds
    Most interception return yards in a single game by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 97 yds
    Longest interception return by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 97 yds
    Most combined interception and fumble return yards by a defensive lineman in a single season since NFL merger in 1970: 203 yds
    Tied for second most interceptions returned for a touchdown by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 2 *4 career interceptions returned for a touchdown including time played as a linebacker
    Third most passes defensed by a defensive lineman in NFL history: 68 *82 career passes defensed including time played as a linebacker
    Second most blocked kicks in NFL history: 13
    Only player in NFL history to record at least 100 sacks and 10 interceptions
    Only player in NFL history with 100-plus sacks and four interceptions returned for touchdowns
    Only player in NFL history to record at least 150 sacks and 10 interceptions
    Peppers has three career games with at least a half-sack and an interception-return touchdown, the most such games in the NFL since the sack became an official statistic in 1982

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  3. depends of course on who else is on 2024 ballot, but Peppers should be clearly be considered a first-ballot HoFer....

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. Peppers was suspended early in his career for PEDs, then avoided another PED suspension near the end of his career by 'cooperating' with the league. I wonder how the HOF voters will address this aspect, if at all.

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