Earlier tonight, Washington signed cornerback Josh Norman to a five-year, $75MM deal that includes $31.5MM in full guarantees. The contract marked the culmination of a whirlwind few days which began when the Panthers rescinded Norman’s franchise tag, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent. After receiving interest from 10+ clubs, Norman lands in the nation’s capital.
Let’s take a look at some of the fallout from and reaction to the Norman/Washington pact…
- The Panthers offered Norman a four-year, $44MM deal, a source tells Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Carolina made this offer to Norman before or after they pulled his franchise tag, but either way, the club clearly wasn’t interested in coming close to the $15MM yearly value that Norman was targeting.
- The Saints reportedly made a late push to sign Norman, and Drew Brees wanted to help New Orleans’ secure the cornerback’s services. According to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (Twitter link), Brees was willing to modify his contract in order to find the funds to sign Norman. Brees only has one year left on his deal, so a restructure isn’t possile — he would have had to accept a paycut or sign an extension to free up cap space.
- Chris Culliver‘s roster spot could now be in danger, as the Washington cornerback might now be expendable given that Norman is on board, as Mike Jones of the Washington Post tweets. Culliver’s 2016 $8MM guarantee voided as a result of his 2015 suspension, and though reports indicated that Washington wouldn’t enforce that clause of his contract, there hasn’t been any official word as to the clubs’s stance, so it’s unclear where exactly Culliver stands. Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com doesn’t believe Washington will cut Culliver, instead allowing him to act as the team’s nickel corner.
- The 49ers were thought to be a serious contender for Norman, but Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com thinks (via Twitter) that San Francisco left the bidding when it got a sense of how high the price tag was going to go.
From one of the biggest panthers fan im proud of Josh for holding out you got what you felt you were worth. Best of luck to you.. Go Panthers
From one of the biggest panthers fans, SCREW NORMAN. He’s not worth 15 mil a year. No corner will ever be and he’s certainly not a Derrelle Revis.
Way to drop a guy on the spot, he was arguably the best corner last year, he was just lucky it was on a contract year. Norman felt like he should have Job security/get paid. Besides, the panthers were the ones who rescinded the franchise tag in the first places