The Josh Norman situation leaves us with more questions than answers
The Panthers surprisingly rescinded the franchise tag initially placed on Josh Norman, and everything about the situation suggests there may be more at play than simply the inability to strike a long-term deal.
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6 min read
Something just doesn't add up for in this entire Josh Norman saga. Actually, several things don't add up.
If this truly is as simple as a player on the franchise tag having an overinflated value of his worth, and a team simply granting him free agency as a result of seeing no clear path to retaining him long-term, well, I suppose on a certain level it would be noble to honor the letter of the law with the franchise tag.
But that's not how it really works, and plenty of teams have employed the services of a player for one year on the franchise tag only to let him willfully hit the open market a year later. Happens all the time, in fact.
What almost never happens is letting a franchise player go back into the open market after already tagging him (the Eagles did it with Jeremiah Trotter many moons ago, off the top of my head, but it's anything but the norm).
So color me baffled at this outcome for many reasons.
First of all, it has been widely known since the combine that Norman was seeking a mega-deal in line with Joe Haden's contract with the Browns and that he wanted to be the highest-paid corner in the game. That isn't a revelation. And the Panthers still had the right to sign him to a long-term deal until July 15, which allowed for plenty of time to see if his number changed at all or if that deadline spurred any action. To simply release him in April, a week before the draft, struck many execs around the league as bizarre.
Norman was never going to be easy to sign long-term, and frankly, it might never have made sense for this team to sign him long-term, which was pretty apparent way back in February when Norman was tagged. So, if the idea was that the Panthers needed his $14 million in cap or cash to spend on other players, well, that ship sailed a month ago, when the best players in shallow market got scooped up. It's slim pickins out there now.
And while I fully expect the Panthers to announce a new extension for defensive tackle Kawann Short shortly, and this money frees up a little more room to extend Star Lotulelei should they want to get him off the fifth-year option, the reality is: Even with Norman on the tag, those moves likely could have been accomplished.
To move him now, without even exploring a trade scenario at the draft, or shopping him around, was shocking to me. To do so at a time when the Panthers are quite thin at cornerback and missed a chance to take the money earmarked for Norman and use it on another top cornerback when the market opened in March is just as shocking.
It doesn't quite add up, and has made people throughout the league wonder if there is more to the story than we know -- something off-field, something behind the scenes. Something.
Sure, the Panthers could draft a corner high, but that's something they were likely already to do even with Norman, and why not at least pair the two together for one year as a team with Super Bowl aspirations?
So for now, an hour or so after the move, there are more questions than answers.
For his part, Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman issued the following statement: "After a number of conversations with Josh's agent we realized that a long-term deal was not attainable. We have decided to rescind the franchise tag freeing Josh to immediately become a UFA. We thank Josh for all his contributions and truly wish him well."
Norman's agent, Michael George, told me he received the news this afternoon and it came as quite a surprise. While the sides had made no real progress, according to George, there had not been all that discussion recently, period. "There hasn't been a lot of discussions with them," George said. "It was unusual. They never made a push to really sign him ... My sense all along was they weren't really comfortable doing a long-term deal with Josh, but I can't really speak to their perspective."
The timing was particularly odd to George, who noted that while tags are occasionally pulled, generally it doesn't happen this late in the free-agency period and this close to the draft. "It makes you wonder why they tagged him in the first place," George said. "I'm surprised by the timing."
Perhaps we'll learn of some as-of-now untold story, some subplot that might make some of this make sense. Some rival executives have opined that perhaps sometimes-crotchety owner Jerry Richardson simply became fed up with a player he didn't really believe wanted to be in Carolina and was making outlandish desires, and opted to pull the tag (though not playing it out until July 15 seems rash to me).
Others have suggested that, after being burned recently by tagging Greg Hardy, that with this process seemingly going nowhere with Norman, a player whose personality is not everyone's cup of tea, that the owner decided to spend this money elsewhere on assets he expects to be around for several years. Maybe we'll figure out more of this puzzle in the days ahead.
In the meantime, attention turns to what all of this means for Norman, as well as the Lombardi Trophy runners-up he's leaving behind. As noted, the Panthers need corner help badly in the upper rounds of the draft now. And that must be a focus.
As for Norman, George said several teams already called in the hour after his client hit the market, include some looking to secure visits ASAP. Norman was at a funeral today and was regrouping after being caught off guard by Carolina's decision, so any decisions on that might be delayed a bit. And certainly there will be needy teams wanting to explore signing him.
However, as a late bloomer who's something of a one-year wonder, and as someone whose zone scheme plays at least some role in his playmaking ability, and -- most important -- as someone hitting the market so late after most owners have already blown the budgets, this will be a unique case study in NFL economics. Norman needs to secure a multi-year deal worth well more than $14 million for his gamble in not signing this franchise tag to pay off. (A wise agent once told me, unless your client is a total blue-chip player without any blemishes whatsoever, go ahead and sign that franchise tag as soon as possible; the risks don't outweigh the costs.)
Rival executives came up with some pretty quick lists of likely landing spots for Norman, with many of the usual subjects listed (rebuilding teams with ample cap space): Oakland, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Tampa Bay. Maybe a team no one is thinking about will prove to be a top suitor. (Dallas doesn't have the greatest cap situation, for instance, but would Jerry Jones try to get creative on something like this, which would alleviate the need to maybe take Jalen Ramsey in the first round, to further free him up to take a pass rusher?)
Regardless, the Panthers' unusual decision creates even more intrigue to a pre-draft run-up that wasn't lacking for it, and makes me wonder if either side will be a big winner in this quirky scenario.
