Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas
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| Peppers |
One line jumped out at me in The Charlotte Observer's wrap-up of Carolina's off-season program. Stan Olson, who I worked side-by-side with for years, watched the players run sprints on the final day of their summer school.
Olson wrote that defensive end Charles Johnson took control of all the lineman by the third sprint and, then, observed "it appeared that DE Julius Peppers, with his long easy strides, could have stepped it up and won the thing, but he seemed content to stay in the middle of the pack."
It might not seem like a big deal, but we're talking about Peppers, a player the Panthers and their fans are dreaming about seeing step up -- more so now than ever, after just 2.5 sacks last season.
Peppers always has been a laid-back kind of guy, but he's blessed with phenomenal physical skills. That part about seeming content to stay in the middle of the pack is a common event with Peppers.
Yes, it's only June and this might not be a big deal. But, at some point, Peppers has to start stepping up. He has to step up to get back his status as an elite player. He has to step up to get a big, new contract and he has to step up to help coach John Fox keep his job.
It's tough to get people to change their nature on their own. You have to wonder if the Panthers are doing enough to push Peppers to step up. I covered his entire career up until this January and I never really saw any strong signs of the Panthers pushing Peppers. I wonder if that might have been a mistake.
I think back to the fine basketball book by John Feinstein titled, "A Season Inside'', where he follows key teams, players and coaches for an entire college season. One of the big themes of that book was Kansas star Danny Manning and his relationship with coach Larry Brown. Manning was much like Peppers, supremely talented, but not the type to be real aggressive about anything.
Feinstein chronicled Brown's constant harping at Manning. At one point, the coach told Manning to stop being just one of the guys because he wasn't just one of the guys. At some point, the message got through and Manning stepped up and carried Kansas to a national title.
I wonder if a similar approach might work with Peppers.
