SCHEFTER SAYS PEPPERS-TO-PATS WON’T HAPPEN

In his weekly appearance on WEEI in Boston, Adam Schefter of NFL Network said that the Panthers won’t be trading defensive end Julius Peppers to the Patriots. “That trade is not gonna happen,” Schefter told Dennis & Callahan of WEEI. Schefter cited the financial investment that Peppers would require and the looming class of Patriots free agents (including Vince Wilfork and Richard Seymour), who will be on the market in 2010. Schefter’s opinion conflicts sharply with a Monday report from Vic Carucci of NFL.com, who seemed to suggest that a trade would happen at some point between the upcoming league meetings (which open on March 22) and the 2009 draft. “I’m telling you, they’re not gonna do it,” Schefter said later in the segment. ". . . . I don’t believe for a second there’s any truth to it.” Schefter then said he’s 99.9 percent sure that Peppers won’t be playing for the Patriots next year. But Schefter then acknowledged that that 0.1 percent could come to fruition, and that he could be exposed as a “complete fraud.” Meanwhile, Schefter said that he regards the chances of the Pats signing defensive end Jason Taylor as “realistic.”