4:10 p.m. Love the D.J. Hackett signing.
Kudos to GM Marty Hurney and right-hand man Rob Rogers for getting that deal done. And, here's the kicker -- they did it on the cheap. Getting Hackett for an average of $1.75 million per year is ridiculously cheap given his potential.
The details of the contract were not released, but I'm guessing the larger portion of the $3.5 million contract is due in the second year so if things don't work out -- or if Dwayne Jarrett shows improvement this season -- the team could always reconsider what to do with Hackett after the season. But my guess is they will want to keep him around after they see him on the field.
4 p.m. As an update to the earlier Julius Peppers' posting, he is working out in Arizona, which would explain why he didn't attend the ACC Tournament. Denver is obviously a little closer. Once again team officials said they have no plans to trade Peppers.
11 a.m. Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers was in Denver over the weekend to take in a Denver Nuggets basketball game. That prompted the Rocky Mountain News to write a story about whether the Broncos might be trying to swing a trade for Peppers.
I can tell you this. Like the rumors in the past, everyone that matters that I've spoken with has denied that Peppers is going anywhere. Quite frankly, at this point, the Panthers would be fools to trade Peppers, who has one year left on his contract.
Basically what I think this visit to Denver means is this: Peppers is a basketball fan, plain and simple. He's friends with Carmello Anthony. The curious thing, however, is why he didn't stay in Charlotte and watch his alma mater win the ACC Championship. Hmmm.
Regardless, I will check this out further.
Anyway, here's the link to the story:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/17/peppers-at-nuggets-win-reason-unknown/
10:20 a.m. For those of you anxious to hear more about the future of receiver D.J. Hackett, keep in mind that he's on the West Coast in Seattle, so he's three hours behind. So while lunch time is fast approaching here, it's quite possible Hackett hasn't even awoke in Seattle.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if a deal gets done today one way or the other. Although Washington was the only team that made a formal offer to Hackett last week, that changed on Sunday when the Panthers began talking numbers with his representatives.
Everything I'm hearing is Hackett will either sign here in Carolina or re-sign with the Seahawks.
Then again, I think he goes where the money is, so it wouldn't shock me if Tampa Bay (which, by the way, has the most salary cap money of the teams involved in the courting process) decides makes a push for him that he ends up there. Yeah, I know, that is kind of straddling the fence.
The bottom line is the Panthers are still very much in the Hackett sweepstakes.
10:10 a.m. Profootballtalk.com has reported that Kansas City is interested in signing former Panthers center Justin Hartwig, who was recently released in a salary cap move.