Which Players will actually hit the market?

[BlindSite]

Peppers is almost certainly going to have a new uniform come the start of the 09 season.

It all hinges on what happens with Jordan Gross. The Panthers almost had Gross signed last year before the start of Free Agency but couldn't hammer out some minor details so they slapped the tag on him.

Lo and behold he has an AP season, so now his price tag significantly increases. With the extension of Gamble, that leaves the team in a bit of a salary cap pickle.

The team can and likely will free up space by cutting lucas, hackett and johnson (landon) and extending delhomme to ease his cap hit freeing up close to 10 mill in addition to what's already free...

When that occurs, Gross is likely to get his mega franchise size deal. Following this we'll see Peppers franchised and then later him traded for some manner of pick and or pick/player/s and the team go into the draft relatively happy.

The worst case scenario is the Panthers can't work something out with Gross and they tag him allowing Pep to walk unabaited and then they go into the next season without any real certainty at tackle or De and only a 2nd round pick...

In short: Watch what happens with Gross if you want to know what's happening with Peppers.