The Carolina Panthers' decision to rescind Josh Norman's franchise tag on Wednesday was so shocking that it even surprised Norman.
Just after signing his five-year, $75 million deal with the Redskins on Friday night, the cornerback did an interview where he accused the Panthers of "sideswiping" him.
"It came out of nowhere. It really did," Norman told Redskins Nation, via the team's official website. "I got sideswiped -- I didn't see it coming."
The Panthers' decision to sideswipe Norman means that you should probably circle Dec. 19 on your calendar, because that's when the cornerback will be able to get revenge on his old team. In Week 15, the Redskins will host Carolina on Monday Night Football.
Although the Panthers clearly didn't want Norman at his asking price, the opposite was true in Washington. Redskins president Bruce Allen sent Norman a text on Wednesday, just minutes after the Panthers announced that the corner's franchise tag had been rescinded.
"When [the franchise tag was rescinded], it was crazy because [Allen], the president, hit [me] up right away with a [text of a] jersey, No. 24," Norman said.
The wild part is that Norman didn't even see Allen's text until Thursday.
"The crazy thing is I didn't see it until a day and a half later because I was still getting over the fact of what was going on," Norman said. "Being somewhere 28 years all your life and just in a blink of an eye, gone, just like that."
Before Norman signed in Washington on Friday, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported that the Redskins put the "full-court press" on him during his visit to D.C., a strategy that clearly worked.
"I just feel so great about being here and the craziest part about it is [the Redskins] have been so nice to me since Day 1," Norman said. "I mean everything [since] I've been here since I got off that plane, you guys have been so nice to me. I felt that homecoming and everything that was here. And so when I say that, everything I put into it since Day 1, I'm going to give back just that much for it tenfold."
Norman better not look ahead to Washington's Week 15 game against Carolina because if he does, he might get eaten alive. In the first 14 weeks of the the season, the corner will be going up against some of the best receivers in the NFL, including Antonio Brown, Dez Bryant, Odell Beckham, Steve Smith, A.J. Green, Jordy Nelson, Dez again and Larry Fitzgerald.
