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Rick Scuteri/US PresswireJulius Peppers may not be worth a mega deal to play for the Bears.

By JEFF DICKERSON

FT. LAUDERDALE -- Five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers' playing days in Carolina appear to be over. Peppers, 30, will once again be an unrestricted free agent, but unlike last offseason, the Panthers do not appear ready to place a second franchise tag on their star defender.

Which leads us to a very natural question; Should the Bears make a run at Peppers in free agency?

You would think the answer would be easy, but there might be more to this than meets the eye.

Without question, Peppers is one of the most dominant pass rushers in the NFL, recording a combined 25 sacks over the last two seasons. Throughout his eight-year career, the former second overall pick in the 2002 NFL draft has hit double digits in sacks six times. Think about that. Since Lovie Smith took over in 2004, the Bears have only had two players -- Adewale Ogunleye with 10 in 2005; Mark Anderson with 12 in 2006 -- reach that plateau in a single season. Bottom line, the Bears are in desperate need of a powerhouse defensive end to make their scheme work.

But here is where you are going to call me crazy.

One of the great unknowns in the NFL -- Jerry Angelo often references this when discussing free agency -- is how a player will respond once he's been given a big-money contract. Although Peppers has been in the league for eight years, he's always been trying to get paid. Always. Even when he was making $18.2 million last year in Carolina, he was still looking ahead to that monster deal. Will the production tail off when Peppers cashes in -- we assume -- this spring?

Bears fans have seen guys "shut it down" over the years after signing lucrative extensions, so we all know it can and does happen routinely in this league. Obviously, I've never covered Peppers, so I can't speak for his work ethic and personality, but I always question the motives of guys who make a lot of noise when it comes to wanting new deals. I guess I've become a little jaded in that regard.

If the Bears can get Peppers at a decent price -- it can happen in an uncapped year, then he'd be worth bringing to Chicago. But if the money gets out of hand -- like Albert Haynesworth, is Peppers worth the risk?

Despite all the great numbers, part of me wants to say 'no'.