Josh Norman to the Redskins, 5 years, $75 million

[Cary Kollins]

Regardless if you like the move or not from a pure $$ and cap standpoint, you cant honestly say your team is better today than it was a week ago. Going into the draft and weeks past the FA frenzy you now have a HUGE hole in your secondary. Congrats!

Norman didn't sign the franchise tender and there is no way to know if he ever intended on doing so.

He totally didn't expect this move from Carolina, as he has now hired a new agent to negotiate his next deal. I wouldn't be totally shocked if he returned to Carolina for less than what was on the table.

Whats the back up plan if he doesn't? Draft a CB at 31, or try to trade up for Eli Apple?

In the pre-draft presser today, Gettleman reiterated that September is a long ways away. He also repeated what he said last year when Kelvin Benjamin went down: "sometimes the answer is on your roster".

Assuming Norman doesn't return, Carolina will probably sign a mid to low level corner at some point this summer.

Gettleman doesn't believe a team is ever "one player away". He won two Super Bowls with the Giants without Allpro corners. Those teams were built in the trenches, a strong offensive line and a ferocious defensive line. That is how Gettleman is building this Panthers team. He says it all the time: "Big men allow you to compete".

I look for Gettleman to focus on beefing up Carolina's defensive line, which will allow the secondary to mask some of its deficiencies. At least that's the idea.

 

[ctrcat]

^ I think BPA in the draft will always apply, but if there are multiple players with the same grade it will be a corner assuming he's gone. A trade up is possible in any round but nothing major. JMO.

 

[soohawk]

They had a rough chance of repeating the success of last season regardless of how the roster shook out because they don't have a cakewalk schedule this year. Now that they have lost one of their top 3 defensive players who was adept at shutting down/removing top receivers from their game it is only going to compound the issue. Norman benefited from such a talented front 7 that his play may drop off once he is in a new system with a different talent dispersion.

 

[2_0_6]

Regardless if you like the move or not from a pure $$ and cap standpoint, you cant honestly say your team is better today than it was a week ago. Going into the draft and weeks past the FA frenzy you now have a HUGE hole in your secondary. Congrats!

Norman didn't sign the franchise tender and there is no way to know if he ever intended on doing so.

He totally didn't expect this move from Carolina, as he has now hired a new agent to negotiate his next deal. I wouldn't be totally shocked if he returned to Carolina for less than what was on the table.

Whats the back up plan if he doesn't? Draft a CB at 31, or try to trade up for Eli Apple?

In the pre-draft presser today, Gettleman reiterated that September is a long ways away. He also repeated what he said last year when Kelvin Benjamin went down: "sometimes the answer is on your roster".

Assuming Norman doesn't return, Carolina will probably sign a mid to low level corner at some point this summer.

Gettleman doesn't believe a team is ever "one player away". He won two Super Bowls with the Giants without Allpro corners. Those teams were built in the trenches, a strong offensive line and a ferocious defensive line. That is how Gettleman is building this Panthers team. He says it all the time: "Big men allow you to compete".

I look for Gettleman to focus on beefing up Carolina's defensive line, which will allow the secondary to mask some of its deficiencies. At least that's the idea.

I get his angle, but the game has changed to more of a passing league since the Giants won theirs. You can have the best front seven in football with average CB's, and you will ending up being the Rams 2.0.

It's just hard for me to imagine Norman not signing his tender if they told him they would work on a sign and trade if they truly did not want to pay his salary. There would have been a line down the block with teams trying to acquire him.

 

[Cary Kollins]

"I get his angle, but the game has changed to more of a passing league since the Giants won theirs. You can have the best front seven in football with average CB's, and you will ending up being the Rams 2.0.

It's just hard for me to imagine Norman not signing his tender if they told him they would work on a sign and trade if they truly did not want to pay his salary. There would have been a line down the block with teams trying to acquire him"


Maybe the truth will come out later, but to speculate it seems Norman's soon-to-be former agent instructed Norman to not sign and basically hold the team hostage. I'm not sure if the Panthers would have had a trade partner, because Norman is demanding a $15-16m per deal. So a team would have to pay him that long term plus trade at least one decent draft pick to Carolina. Not sure if there was a market for that.

After reading more from Gettleman's presser, it seems they ultimately decided the one year rental on Josh wasn't very appealing compared to using the $14 million of cap room elsewhere.

 

[2_0_6]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

 

[Cary Kollins]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

Kawaan Short is going to get paid.

 

[tmobilchawker79]

Norman is overrated. He'd be the third best corner on the Seahawks. Just sayin'

No. I can't scroll past this without saying how much I disagree. The dude is a top 5 CB in the league. He's probably better right now than Sherm. Stop. Please.

Really? Better than Sherm?

You must be delusional.

I doubt I'm delusional. It's hard to say if he is better than Sherm (how do you even measure that?), but Norman would start as CB1 on any team in the NFL. And he's much better than being "the third best corner on the Seahawks", that's not even a debate.

 

[2_0_6]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

Kawaan Short is going to get paid.

Rather have Norman

 

[NINEster]

On a one year prove it deal, SF has to be all over it. Any team for that matter that has the cap space.

Norman on a long term deal is a tough call not because of his ability but just the big cap space he would command.

Seeing what Revis has done the last few years, I'm surprised more teams didn't pursue him. SF should have went after Revis in the Harbaugh era.

 

[NINEster]

Dictating that teams need elite secondaries to win Super Bowls is a very Seahawk fan thing to say....

Denver won it mostly on front 7.
New England won it with balanced talent front 7 and back 4.
San Francisco was in the running without all pro corners.
Giants, Packers, Saints.....etc.

If the Hawks lost Sherman are they suddenly an average defense? That's the implication here with Norman leaving...

 

[2_0_6]

Dictating that teams need elite secondaries to win Super Bowls is a very Seahawk fan thing to say....

Denver won it mostly on front 7.
New England won it with balanced talent front 7 and back 4
San Francisco was in the running without all pro corners.
Giants, Packers, Saints.....etc.

If the Hawks lost Sherman are they suddenly an average defense? That's the implication here with Norman leaving...

Lets not go with teams that were close, lets go with the last 3 teams that actually won it. Secondary's matter in todays NFL.

Seattle had Sherm, Browner, Maxwell, Kam, Earl & Lane
Pats had Revis, McCourty & Browner
Denver has Talib, Harris Jr, & Tj Ward


SO taking one guy from these rosters wouldn't equal a big loss, but from the Panthers....yup!

 

[Cary Kollins]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

Kawaan Short is going to get paid.

Rather have Norman

That's where you and David Gettleman disagree.

 

[2_0_6]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

Kawaan Short is going to get paid.

Rather have Norman

That's where you and David Gettleman disagree.

who? :thirishdrinkers:

 

[Trrrroy]

I don't get full on rescinding the tag. Let him hold out if he doesnt want to sign. See if he's bluffing. At least you have a chance at keeping him. Player's have a tendency to realize their mistakes once real games start. See kam chancellor. Now they don't have a chance.

Elite secondaries are proving more important than d-lines in today's nfl, and an already thin unit just lost it's only star player. Rough for carolina fans.

 

[kearly]

I'm guessing if Malik Jackson or Olivier Vernon were tagged and then dropped into FA right now, they would not be getting $17m APY offers. The hype and insanity at the start of FA is easily worth a few extra million per year on these contracts.

Whatever Norman gets offered now, he'll get offered several million more at the start of FA in 2017. Maybe he takes a multi-year deal anyway just for the security, but if he was willing to take the risk of holding out into the regular season to get the maximum amount of money possible, then it stands to reason that he'd be okay with the risk of a 1 year contract.

I think the odds of him getting a Revis type offer this late in free agency is slim at best. Opinion on Norman is divided, and he's a bit of a one year wonder at this stage. He's also relatively old and has missed a lot of games prior to 2015. This is a guy that needs hype to get his pay day, and this is evidenced by Carolina's offers being nowhere close to Revis money.

Also, I rarely disagree with Scotte but I personally find nothing about this to be immoral by Carolina. Norman allegedly threatened to hold out into the regular season, which to me is an even worse offense than rescinding the tag (not to mention, it was very likely the impetus for Carolina's decision). By appearances, it seems that Carolina tagged and then negotiated with Norman in good faith before unexpected events caused a new course of action.

Also, Norman could have completely avoided this by simply signing the tender, but he didn't because he was greedy and felt the added leverage was worth the risk. Finally, it does not appear that Carolina dropped Norman as a negotiation tactic (to get him back at a lower price ala Leroy Hill). Rather, it genuinely seems as if they are washing their hands of him. I guess we'll see.

 

[RedAlice]

Adam Schefter ✔‎@AdamSchefter
Josh Norman’s deal, when complete, expected be between $14 to $15 MIL per year, per sources. 5-year deals being discussed with Wash and SF.

 

[McGruff]

$14 million of extra cap room but nobody to spend it on. Like I said I get his angle, but question the timing.

Kawaan Short is going to get paid.

Rather have Norman

I'd rather have Short. So pissed we couldn't/didn't draft him.

 

[jammerhawk]

I'd rather have Short as well in preference to Norman.

The Hawks could have draft Kawaan Short but chose to overpay for Percy. They could have kept Tate too but instead chose Percy. It was a gamble that failed to pay off. it was an idea that looked good at the outset, a possible MVP type player addition, but failed to translate.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

 

[Cary Kollins]

Adam Schefter ✔‎@AdamSchefter
Josh Norman’s deal, when complete, expected be between $14 to $15 MIL per year, per sources. 5-year deals being discussed with Wash and SF.

Dayum.

Good for Josh. He's a really good dude. Hate it didn't work out in Carolina but happy for him.

He's about to have his grandkid's grandkid's set for life. Not bad for a kid out of Coastal Carolina.