I think you partially answered your own question right there: last year Peppers looked like a player well into his decline whereas Fackrell, at least to somebody's eyes, still had an upside. Maybe he does and it just hasn't been tapped yet. Or maybe TT has gotten careless in his evaluation of talent, like the old Don driving with Fredo and getting out of the car to visit the fruit stand. At the time the decision to let Peppers go--assuming that it was really a Packer decision--didn't look so bad, and it certainly fit with TT's development MO. But maybe it wasn't really the Packers' decision, maybe Peppers decided he wanted to play out his final season back home and he is now going out in style.