Julius Peppers' long-standing retirement plans will have to wait

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers opted to return for a 17th NFL season because he wasn’t ready to trade tearing down quarterbacks for renovating buildings.

“Basically, if I decide to retire I don’t want it to be one of those situations where, you know, after a couple of months I have the itch to play again,’’ Peppers said in a video produced by Panthers.com. “That’s not something I want to do. I want to put a lot of thought into it and make the final decision. I don’t want to waver on it at all.

“When you make a decision as big as this, you need to take a lot of time and make sure it’s the right thing. Yeah, it’s going to be final once I decide one way or the…