Cat Scratch Reader
We’re counting down the days until the Panthers open up the 2025 season!
The Carolina Panthers don’t currently have a No. 90 on the roster, so we’re going to go old school and profile a former Panther who wore the number. I know most of you thought we’d highlight the immortal Jeff Zgonina who sported the No. 90 back in 1995, but we’re instead doing the unexpected and spotlighting a guy named Julius Peppers.
The first go-round with the Panthers
Selected No. 2 overall by the Panthers in the 2002 NFL Draft, the UNC product would go on to have one of the most distinguished careers in Carolina history.
He spent his first eight seasons with the Panthers and immediately established himself as one of the NFL’s most fearsome pass rushers. In his rookie season he racked up 12 sacks as he ran away with the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He would go on to have double-digit sacks in six of his first eight seasons while receiving five Pro Bowl and two first team All-Pro honors.
His first tenure with the Panthers ended after the 2009 season with regrettably strained relationships between Peppers, the front office, and some segments of the fan base. Despite 81 sacks over eight seasons, a long-term contract couldn’t be hammered out so Peppers departed for the Chicago Bears for what would be his age-30 season.
He spent four seasons with the Bears and made three Pro Bowls. Then in 2014, his age-34 season, he joined the Green Bay Packers for what would be a three-year tenure that produced yet another Pro Bowl season after his 10.5 sacks in 2015.
Ending his legacy the right way
By the end of the 2016 season, Peppers was on the move again and delighted Panthers fans near and far by coming back to Carolina for his final two seasons. It was a homecoming and reconciliation many were hoping for.
In 2017, his age-37 season, he somehow produced 11 sacks as the Panthers went 11-5 and made the postseason. The following year he added five more sacks before calling it a career.
All told, Julius Peppers had 159.5 sacks and 719 tackles in 266 games. He currently ranks fourth all-time in career sacks.
He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2024.
That same year he was inducted into the Carolina Panthers Ring of Excellence and expressed his love for the Panthers faithful this way, “You can travel the world, but there’s no place like home. So thank you for having my back since the day I was drafted and for always showing me love.”
And on behalf of Panthers fans everywhere:
Thank you, No. 90!
