Sports Radio Interviews

You Want This Guy Protecting Your Blind Side

In my opinion, Jordan Gross was going to be the most highly recruited free agent in all of football.  The Carolina Panthers put a stop to that by signing him to a huge six-year contract that included the richest first three-year payout for an offensive lineman in NFL history.  The ability to sign Gross before Thursday allowed them to slap the tag on Julius Peppers.

Gross joined The Mac Attack on WFNZ in Charlotte on Tuesday Morning.  He was patient in answering a bunch of questions about Peppers and even talked American Idol.

On re-signing with the Panthers and Julius Peppers

“I knew if I was staying  I wanted to do what would help the team most in free agency.  They never told me for sure they were going to tag Pep, but I knew it was important for them to have that option.”

“I hope we can keep Peps and I got a text from after I signed to say congrats.  You know he said he wasn’t unhappy that he was a franchise player.  I think we got a chance of keeping him and putting everything to rest, but who knows still there’s a lot that can happen.”

I’m still shocked that the Panthers are as of today going with Jake Delhomme again as their starting qb after that debacle against the Cardinals in a home playoff game.  Here’s Gross on Delhomme:

“I’m not worried one bit about Jake.  He’s probably the most mentally tough guy on our team.  Just kind of from the road he traveled  to get to where he’s at and everything he’s gone through.  He’ll be back better than last year.  You can ask anybody in that locker room and nobody would say a bad word about him.  I’ve always said I’d defend Jake to my last breath.”

Jordan Gross on WFNZ in Charlotte (starts about two minutes in to segment)

Tags: American Idol, Carolina Panthers, Franchise tag, Jake Delhomme, Jordan Gross, Julius Peppers, NFL