Peppers, Panthers continue work on negotiations

By Darin Gantt - Darin Gantt

CHARLOTTE -- If there's anything holding up the negotiations between the Carolina Panthers and defensive end Julius Peppers, it apparently isn't his lackluster 2007 season.

Peppers' agent said last week he's received no indication from the team that his client's 2.5-sack disaster has had any impact on their talks. While neither side is giving specifics, the discussions are ongoing, aimed at getting something done before Peppers becomes a free agent at the end of the 2008 season.

"The organization has articulated, both to Julius and to me, that they still have full confidence in his abilities," agent Carl Carey said. "I have 100-percent confidence that what they're saying to Julius and to me is how they really feel."

Peppers didn't talk to reporters after the first minicamp earlier this month, but he impressed everyone. Whatever his problems last year, conditioning was clearly a component, but he's taken steps to avoid that this year. He passed the eyeball test, and several teammates have indicated he's in much better shape than he was a year ago.

• NOT SO SIMPLE: When New Orleans announced the retirement of linebacker Dan Morgan last week, many wondered why the Panthers didn't sign him so he could retire in Charlotte.

Morgan said last week he was moving back to Charlotte for good, where he's planning to run the pet day-care business he started with former teammate Will Witherspoon.

That makes it a sensible proposition, and one that would be supported by a number of important figures in the Panthers' hierarchy. The only problem might be paperwork, and it might be some time before it happens.

It was easy when the Panthers did the ceremonial signings with Steve Beuerlein and Stephen Davis, because both were free agents whose contracts had expired with their old teams (Denver and St. Louis, respectively). And if the Saints go ahead and put Morgan on the reserve-retired list, it would technically mean he'd retire a Saint. For him to sign with Carolina, his contract would have to be terminated, and from talking to a few personnel types last week, that's a far more complicated process than it sounds (considering he's injured and rehabbing, with insurance and eventual disability implications).

Maybe the Panthers should just trade for his rights. They could give New Orleans James Anderson, who's not making this club unless there's a rash of injuries -- and a bad rash at that. Like poison-ivy-in-your-shorts bad.

• READY TO GET BACK IN: Jeff Beathard, the Panthers' new regional scout covering the Northeast, has the lineage needed for a job in the league. But since a three-year stint working in the CFL ended in 2005, the son of former Washington and San Diego GM (and Hurney mentor) Bobby Beathard has been out of the game.

The younger Beathard said recently he's spent the last two years selling invisible fencing (the stuff that keeps dogs from busting out of your yard), hardly the typical resume for a guy with his football pedigree. Saying some personal issues necessitated him being close to his Virginia home in recent years, he's ready to get back in with the Panthers.

"Even if they'd have called last year, I wouldn't have been able to have done it; the timing just wasn't right," he said.

He gets to reunite with Hurney and director of college scouting Don Gregory, who he worked with as a scout on his father's San Diego staff. The younger Beathard remembers running around Redskins camp as a kid, when Hurney was on the other side of the business as a writer covering the team.

"I've known Marty since I was 14 years old," he said with a laugh. "He's been someone I've known as a friend and someone I've respected for a long time. Marty and Don really have the same kind of personality as Dad. I can't imagine a better situation. I just respect the heck out of them as football guys."

It works the other way, too. Even in the scouting business (which can be as catty and petty as a junior-high hallway), the younger Beathard is widely respected on his own merits, rather than being viewed as someone living off his dad's name.

• EXTRA POINTS: The Panthers obviously hate new quarterback Lester Ricard and want him to fail. Why else would they give him jersey number 8?

Put it this way -- the two quarterbacks who wore that shirt before were Jeff Lewis and David Carr, two of the more colossal disappointments in franchise history. Granted, Ricard was a late add to the roster and most of the good numbers were picked through. But 6 and 13 were there, and someone in the Panthers' equipment room must have a sick sense of humor to keep sending 8 out there on a quarterback.

Speaking of Ricard, his addition gives the Panthers five quarterbacks, none of whom were drafted. Yet the first three tight ends on the depth chart are all fifth-rounders. ... It might be a month or more before the Panthers announce their new hires on the scouting side. They're losing one of their two pro scouts (Tag Ribary) at the end of his contract, and are expected to lose college area scout Joe Schoen to a promotion in Miami. Word on the street is that some internal shuffling's going on, with several of their college scouts getting new responsibilities.

Most scout contracts league-wide run through the end of June, which is why the Panthers won't comment on the losses of Ribary and Schoen (or the hiring of Beathard). Now that camp rosters are largely set, teams are making front-office plans for beyond 2008, so the scouts who aren't staying at their current jobs are quietly scrambling to line up something else. ... The Panthers will begin their organized team activities Wednesday, a set of voluntary practices that usually stretches three weeks into mid-June. The practices are closed to the public.