Two former NFL general managers say they believe Julius Peppers is best suited for a 4-3 defense like the Carolina Panthers use and wouldn't fit as well in a 3-4 scheme.
Peppers' agent, Carl Carey, said Saturday that Peppers is ready to move to another team and has interest in playing in a 3-4 defense as he seeks to reach his full potential as a player.
Charley Casserly, former GM of the Washington Redskins and Houston Texans, and ex-Tennessee Titans GM Floyd Reese told the Observer they believe Peppers is ideally suited as a 4-3 defensive end.
I don't think he's a 3-4 player at all, Casserly said. He's a right end in a 4-3 defense. That's his best position, and that's where they played him at Carolina.
Casserly said he didn't see any reason Peppers' couldn't fully excel playing in the Panthers' 4-3.
There's nothing they didn't do to help him reach his potential, Casserly said. They lined him up at defensive end, and that's what he does. Anything he didn't achieve is his own fault.
Peppers excels at pressuring the quarterback and finished this season with a career high 141/2 sacks. In general, the top pass rushers in the 4-3 are defensive ends and are outside linebackers in the 3-4.
While Peppers, listed at 6-foot-7, 283 pounds, has the textbook size for a 4-3 end, he's 20 to 40 pounds heavier than the classic 3-4 outside linebacker.
Even though Peppers is one of the league's elite athletes and has extraordinary speed for a player his size, Reese said the transition to playing the 3-4 could be difficult.
My first thought is when you're pretty good doing one thing, a la defensive end and pass rusher in a 4-3, it's not (easy) to jump into something you're not used to doing and have the same impact in a 3-4 defense.
Reese said one of the problems of the free agency system is that it's sometimes difficult to assess how a player's skills will translate from one team's system to another's.
Carey said Peppers isn't locked into playing in a 3-4 or a 4-3, but believes he needs to move on to a new team with a new system.
Reese said he thought the Panthers' system consistently put Peppers in position to succeed.
I see him best as a space, speed rush kind of guy, and I think that's where they tried to use him, Reese said. I don't know what kind of a system he would be looking for, but I think most people would see him as a rush defensive end in a 4-3 scheme.
They tried to put him in the best spot to succeed. We've seen him be very, very successful in that system. I don't know what he would get someplace else that would make him more successful, other than maybe being on a different team with different defensive lineman around him. But that doesn't really have much to do with the scheme.
Reese also said there have been other players around the league, such as Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs and Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson, who said they didn't want to play for their teams anymore but wound up staying.
Lance Briggs was never, ever going to put on a Chicago Bears' uniform again, and now he's probably as happy as anybody in that organization, Reese said.
Carey said Peppers continues to have a close relationship with the Panthers, but is firm in his decision to move on with his career elsewhere.