Canton wasn’t on Julius Peppers’ radar, even at his zenith

Julius Peppers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, taking his rightful place alongside the rest of the game’s immortals. However, Canton was largely an afterthought for most of his 17-year career.

“It never crossed my mind. It’s not why I played the game,” Peppers recently told Sirus XM Radio. “Even when I won Rookie of the Year—even when I started making Pro Bowls, All-Pros, and things like that—the Hall of Fame was never on the radar.”

As Peppers began accumulating big-time statistics, though, talk of his Hall of Fame-worthiness began to ramp up. Only then did Peppers entertain the idea.

But despite finishing his career ranked fourth all-time in sacks (159.5) and tackles for loss (175), Peppers never embraced the possibility of being a Hall of Famer.

“I’d always be like, ‘Yeah, maybe, I don’t know,'” Peppers said. “But I never dreamed that anything like this would happen.”