
The time of the year has come! Training camp starts in 1 day and we're all as giddy as a school girl. Lots of storylines to follow this preseason, so we'll try and cover as much as possible when news breaks!
Stay tuned.
With the start of training camp, we thought we'd share with you an excerpt from the first ever KMAC Panther Weekly release. For all those going to training camp, you may find these steps helpful!
9/9/2008
How to Sneak into a Press Conference 101: The Crucial 9 Steps
Step 1: Pretend like you are somebody. If you and your compadre don't fully believe in the motto “Hey….I belong here”then your cause is unjust and lost. Get your level to 110%.
Step 2: Carefully select mode of entry. Scope out a laundry hamper. Diagram a ventilation duct. Or simply identify the door that says “ENTRANCE”. Make sureyou know what way it opens, as any signal of uncertainty can end your mission before it begins.
Step 3: Upon entry, quickly identify a safety zone– a place where you can take a deep breath and gather your thoughts. Losing your cool could cost you in the most highly anticipated of moments.
Step 4: Don’t forget...YOU BE-LONG THERE.
Step 5: When nobody is looking, hug your buddy and share in the glory. Immediately follow-ing, call your other friends who are out tailgating in the rain and let them know the fine details of your position.
Step 6: When players arrive,usually short one liners such as “Laser rocket arm today, Jake” or “Welcome home, Moose”work best. These establish a friendly, yet professional, open line of communication between you and the player.
Step 7: When the interviews begin, don't be timid. Who knows if this could be your only shot at glory. Go in, put your camera in their face, and snap away. They are used to it. In fact, you probably should so that you fit in.
Step 8: When experience is nearing end, slip out the way you came back in, thankful for the experience you just had, and conscious of the fact that there are others out there that may never have such a unique opportunity.
Step 9: Make fun of those people who were in the parking lot drinking bloody mary’s tailgating in the rain while you were rubbin’ elbows with the stars of your favorite team.
$16,683,000 (base) + $1,500,000 (pro bowl) + $1,000,000 (assume 4 playoff wins) + $1,500,000 (super bowl estimate) = $20.683 million
Now this is just a shot in the dark and of course no one knows how many playoff wins we'll have ( so we assume all), but it gives a better sense of just how much money Peppers could stand to make.
Incentives are interesting. Incentives are categorized as either "Likely to be Earned" (LTBE) or "Not Likely to be Earned" (NLTBE). Their names are pretty self explanatory. LTBE incentives count towards the cap while NLTBE incentives do not. But the way it goes is that if the player achieves those NLTBE incentives then they count toward the following year's cap.
All in all, the amount of money a player can in a year make gets rather complicated, especially when you factor in bonuses and incentives. But the one thing you can count on is that Peppers will count towards nearly 20% of the Panthers salary cap come next offseason, and that's when something will have to break.