Peppers wants out. He knows the Panthers can place the franchise tag on him again, but the cash number would be prohibitive. Peppers wanted to make a preemptive strike against the Panthers to dissuade them from trying to retain him in case they had an interest.
I dont think Peppers has anything to worry about. With $13M guaranteed coming to Jake Delhomme, the Panthers have some cash issues to deal with. Peppers will be set free.
We can also scratch Green Bay as a potential home for Peppers. The Packers defensive line coach is Peppers former coach with the Panthers, Mike Trgovac. To put it conservatively, Trgovac is highly disliked by Peppers. I worked with Mike in 1999 with the Packers and found him to be a good person and coach, but Peppers feels differently. Hell steer clear of Trgovac at all costs.