Gross says he's agreed to take a pay cut to remain with the Carolina Panthers.||||||| Gross' new deal is worth $5.5 million in 2013 and will void out after the season, making him a free agent. That's significantly less than the 10-year veteran was scheduled to make the next two seasons. The two-time Pro Bowl selection was scheduled to earn $8.7 million this year and $6.7 million in 2014.

Gross is inactive for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons with a right ankle injury.||||||| Gross injured his ankle in last week's win over Tampa Bay.

Gross estimates he's lined up opposite Julius Peppers more than a thousand times in seven years of practices with the Panthers. On Sunday, they'll go one-on-one again - only this time in a real game for the first time- when the five-time Pro Bowl pick Peppers returns to Carolina with the Chicago Bears.||||||| Gross got a quick introduction to the NFL as a first-round pick in 2003, facing Peppers in training camp a year after the 6-foot-7 defensive end was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year. "It's not like there are any easy weeks in the NFL. This one is just a little more special than others," Gross said. "I've been going against Pep as long as I've been in the pros, and he's always given me a handful. It's not going to be any different on Sunday."

Gross broke his right leg, not his ankle, as the team first announced. The 2008 Pro Bowl pick still plans on being ready for the start of next season.||||||| Wearing a large cast and leaning on crutches, Gross visited his teammates at Bank of America Stadium on Monday for the first time since suffering the gruesome, season-ending injury against Atlanta on Nov. 15. "For next season, I have no concerns at all," Gross said.