After Mike Minters recent retirement announcement many people wondered who would now step forward to be the leader of the defense. Team owner Jerry Richardson actually called out Julius Peppers to step up and assume the role and Pat Y of Charlotte.com has had a few posts on the subject. I’m left shaking my head at all this thinking what in the hell are you doing? Julius Peppers is not an out-spoken type of person in the mold of Mike Minter. Putting this type of pressure on him could DEFINITELY adversely affect his performance if he is not up to the task mentally. Julius is the quiet type who does his talking through his play and who wants to affect that? He is not going to give any "win one for the Gipper" type of locker room speeches. It’s not in his nature so get off his back JR and Pat. Nobody ever asked Minter to be the defensive leader; he just stepped up and assumed the role because it was in his nature. I think a better candidate is Dan Morgan, Ken Lucas or if he starts, Stanley McClover. Regardless of who it ends up being, the true leader of the defense will emerge during the heat of battle. It’s not something that is anointed just because you’re the highest paid player on the defense. And if the leader ends up being someone other than Peppers thats ok. I'll take 16 quiet sacks any year.