Where does Julius Peppers rank on ESPN’s list of the 2000’s Top 25 football players?

There are few football players who had the kind of defensive impact that f ormer UNC football player Julius Peppers did.

Peppers, a homegrown North Carolina talent from Wilson, finished his Tar Heel career with 30.5 sacks. He was First Team-All ACC in both 2000 and 2001, an multi-award winner and unanimous All-American in 2001, all of which helped him get selected second overall by the Carolina Panthers, in the 2002 NFL Draft.

Peppers was an even better professional football player, starting with his Rookie of the Year campaign, in which he finished with 12 sacks and 28 solo tackles. 10 of Peppers’ 17 NFL seasons were spent in Charlotte – his first eight and final two – while he also recorded double-digit sack totals in 10 NFL seasons.

After the 2018 campaign, Peppers retired. He still currently sits fourth all-time in sacks with 159.5, was named First Team All-Pro in 2004, 2006 and 2010, a 9-time Pro Bowler and is now a Hall of Famer.

With all the accolades Peppers collected in his football career, it’s no surprise he’s amongst ESPN’s Top 25 football players since 2000.

Peppers is ranked 24th, just above former Wisconsin and now- Indianapolis Colts star Jonathan Taylor, plus a spot below former LSU standout Tyrann Mathieu.

“There’s a pretty easy case for Julius Peppers to rank much higher on this list: No one else here posted a double-double in an NCAA (basketball) tournament game,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote. “Peppers was just a staggering athletic specimen, measuring 6-7, 283 pounds and running a 4.7 40 at the NFL combine. And after a solid redshirt freshman campaign (10 TFLs, six sacks), he went from good to great, leading the nation with 15 sacks as a sophomore and earning Heisman votes as a junior. He went second in the 2002 NFL draft and ended up a Hall of Famer at two different levels of the sport.”

I’m fully convinced that if Peppers wanted to make an NFL return at age 44 today, he would still wreak havoc.

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