Next year he could be a stud in the UFL.

What a letter. It basically boils down to "I couldn't get the job I wanted, so clearly everybody is out to get me". He wants to be a starter. Teams think he's good enough to be a backup. He rejects several offers to be a backup QB . . . he's surprised nobody else gives him one?

He's significantly overestimating his value as a football player. He can't get what he wants, so he blames other people and walks off. Nice.

I'm with 2. There were rumors that Culpepper couldn't get a job because he refused to accept a minimum contract. Now I'm supposed to believe he was blackballed because he tried to represent himself? Come on, which is more likely?

I think one of his biggest problems was him trying to go it alone as his own agent. Whatever his skills were as a QB, he failed miserably as an agent.

I suspect that most of the agents around the league didn't do him any favors with other GMs around the league, either, almost as if as an example to any other player that thinks he doesn't need an agent.

And yes, he was delusional as to his market value. He originally ditched his agent for trying to tell him he wasn't worth as much as he thought he was.

Its too bad. He was magnificent in 2004. He's better than any of the Viking QBs now, but he burned the bridge with Childress when Childress first came in.

He's better than any of the Chicago QBs, easily, even if hobbled.

And he is probably the greatest madden player the NFL has ever known. And I don't mean as in the player in the game, but in actually playing madden. He still wins tournaments...

Besides his ferocity at Madden, he'll always be remembered for 2 things: playing Sammy Sosa to Peyton Manning's Mark McGwire, and being one of the main instigators in the Love Boat scandal. What a legacy.

Maybe it's me, but the way Culpepper phrases the line about retiring instead of waiting for another QB to get injured seems to suggest that his waiting would be the cause of the injury.

Anyone agree or am I crazy?

He's kind of got a point. He's a better option than the starters in San Francisco, Chicago, Kansas City, Baltimore and maybe Arizona. New England, Indianapolis, and the Giants spend the preseason auditioning backup QBs, and Carolina needs a backup now. One-third of the teams in the league need a quarterback and none of them have any interest in a player with Culpepper's talent? I'm not saying he was blackballed and I'm not saying he hasn't priced himself out of the market. It's possible his career ended with that knee injury, but I find it highly curious that Culpepper couldn't find a job in a league so desperate for QB talent.

Re: #7

You make a compelling argument why Culpepper could have had a job for the minimum salary. The only possible conclusion is that he refused such an offer, probably for multiple teams (not Arizona though, there's no way he's better than Warner).

He was offered by both Green Bay and Pittsburgh, right? That means teams think he can still play. From appearances, he just won't accept less than he thinks he's worth.

He's going to be held up as an example by agents in the future as to why they should represent players. At some point, regardless of what you do, it can be a good thing to have somebody standing over your shoulder saying, "Really, you don't want to do that, don't be a moron".

You guys are also missing out on the possibility that he isn't greedy, but that it honestly just isn't worth it to him to play for 750.000 dollars or so.

I had an uncle who had played several years in the NHL at 300-1000k who hung it up before he strictly had to because he had a ton of money already and wanted to move on with his life rather than go through another few years of increasing irrelevance.

I think it would be perfectly rational for someone to be willing to do a job for 1.5 mil a year that they won't do for 500k, particularly if they have a lot of money already.

Might regret it when they are 65, but hey they aren't 65 right now are they?

I agree with Andrew at #4 and wonder how things might be different had he just said, two years ago, "okay, I'll work on the rehab and football stuff and have a agent work on the job stuff."

I assume he'd be a more than serviceable tutor/backup to a young QB. Gotta be better than Sorgi and Cassell this preseason! Okay, Inidy's O is pretty complicated, but throwing rainbows to Moss would be old hat for him.

He's still young; maybe him "losing his legs" had more of an effect on his QB value than any casual observer realizes.

If not for Manning and Brady, his 2004 might stand as possibly the best QB season for a couple decades. And he wasn't a one-hit wonder.

His departure just sounds so petulant--they're not calling me to go to the prom, so I'm quitting school! Agents and lawyers are there to be thick-skinned and deal with this crap. Players are there to practice and play. Ugggh!

It surprises me.

I still can't help but think that he's better than several teams best QB and worth more than a minimum offer.

And, frankly, I am not going to fault a player for not going with an agent. I like a player to be intelligent enough that he can negotiate his own deal.

All I know is that if I was a bears fan, I'd be pretty annoyed that they weren't even willing to offer him a cheap for a QB offer of $2 million.

Also, I don't think that he should wait around for an injury when he was already a proven, prominent starter and should have been good enough for somebody to invest a bit into for a superior backup QB who could play well enough in case the starter went down or if the starter proved that he wasn't good enough for the team to make the playoffs.

I wonder if the Ravens / Boller thing was the last straw for him. Their starting QB goes on IR for the season - just the kind of scenario where Culpepper would be looking to step in. They make rookie Flacco the starter, and sign Todd Bouman as a veteran backup. Todd Bouman who is 36, and previously #3 on the depth chart at Minnesota when Culpepper was starting (back around 2001 or so).

So DC sees a 36 year old QB get the job over his head. A 36 year old QB who was a long way from competing with DC six or seven years ago, and will only have been declining in skills since then.

Final nail in the coffin?

IIRC the Packers was over a million once you include some basic incentives. DC thought he could do better.

It is also suggested that Culpepper is a bit of a personality issue. In the control freakish NFL that can be the kiss of death unless you are a REAL player.

I thought it was common for veteran players to negotiate extensions or new minimum contracts without agents.

But I don't know how common it is to sell yourself to lots of teams for lots of money, without an agent.

Pepp was infected with some pretty serious paranoia. Denny Green created it, then Mike Tice fed it. Tice used it to get Pepp's sign off on Moss leaving. From what I've read from UCF guys he's really changed. I attribute it to Green and Tice.

"He’s still young; maybe him “losing his legs” had more of an effect on his QB value than any casual observer realizes."

Culpepper was a scrambling QB who had a history of holding onto the ball for way too long, waiting for someone to get open. When you take away his ability to move, hes Drew Bledsoe, without nearly the accuracy.

Just noticed something.... he said "Farewell NFL". Not "Farewell Football".

So that does permit the possibility of playing in the CFL or AFL or UFL...

I don't think Culpepper would have refused to be a backup. He tried out for the Steelers backup job this year when Batch got injured, but they went with Byron Leftwich over him. Which makes a lot of sense. Also, consider the fact that Leftwich couldn't get a starting job this year either and I haven't heard any allegations of bias or conspiracy from him.

The fact is that Culpepper has never been successful without Moss. So even teams that are weak at quarterback prefer to rebuild by developing young talent internally instead of investing in a whiny and aging project. Even as a backup.

I'm not sure he's that interesting to most of the teams struggling with bad QBs. Daunte is 31, and never really established himself as recovered from his injury, or capable of putting up great performances without one of the best WRs in the league. I'd consider it extremely risky to pay him a lot of money - he could blow out his knee again, or he could just plain suck since he effectively hasn't played football in a couple years.

A lot of those teams with crappy QBs are still holding out hope that they'll turn out to be at least capable starters. Daunte doesn't offer any promise for the future, and carries significant risk.

This doesn't surprise me in the least.

What I take out of this is that Culpepper is a locker room cancer/starting QB undercutter.

It seems GMs don't want to have him as a backup for fear that he'll divide the locker room or otherwise cause trouble.

He'll always have those BBs to Wes Welker.

Get your roll on, Fella

I drafted Culpepper in about the 5th round of my 2004 draft, and he was effing awesome. Didn't choke in pivotal weeks 15-16 either, as I recall. What a clutch fantasy player.

#22 yeah C-pepp is a first ballot fantasy hall-of-famer right?

I think #21 hit it right on the head.

Think about it. He evidently thinks he's always right or he would have grabbed another agent after seeing what's not working very well for him. Then hire him as a backup when he clearly thinks he's a starter? My guess is he probably has a slight attitude based on his retirement email, and I'm sure word gets around the league quicker than his next fumble. Well, he's retired now, but you get the drift.

PFT has another Culpepper letter (linked on my name) where he talks about his experience in Pittsburgh:

"After a great workout, I was offered the vet minimum with no negotiations. This is when I realized that there is something wrong."

He also says he didn't ask about competing for the starting job.