Josh Norman CB is a Redskin

Remember that Byrd guy from Buffalo. The sure fire top FA that NO got. Pretty sure that guy sucks now, just seems like high profile FAs never work out or rarely

Byrd was hit by injuries and was never the same after them. Buffalo likely knew that may happen and hence why they let him go (or it was just luck). And he hit free agency from day 1 and had leverage in getting a big deal.

Norman's situation is very different from a high-priced FA acquisition, since we didn't acquire him when free agency started (he'd be with the Jags, Raiders, or Giants if he had hit free agency from day 1). He probably is not being paid what he would have commanded on the open market on day 1 of free agency; or at the very least, he would have gotten better terms in a similar contract (his deal with the Redskins is basically a 2-year deal).

Greetings, my friends! Sorry I've been away for a while, but I had quite the hangover from a painful Super Bowl. I'm getting my feet back under me now and realize I am behind on talking to my friends here about your new CB.

I quickly scanned this thread. I see these are your main questions: Why did Carolina let him go? Is he a steal? Did we overpay? and Is that Giants fan STILL here?

From what I've seen with Norman, your answer to all these questions is somewhat in the middle. I think you will not only be happy with Josh, but I think you'll be thrilled and get a fair amount of good years out of him... as long as you don't expect him to be perfect and the best CB in the league.


First, why we let him go:
We wanted to keep him. He is a really good corner! Unfortunately, he is in the wrong position in our system for big money. We are set up in such a way that our front 7 are priority. We have spent almost nothing on secondary, yet get incredible production from guys considered "has-beens" or that appeared to be liabilities on other teams. (We do the same on offense spending almost nothing on receivers, yet we make people like Tedd Ginn almost a household name.)

Josh earned a payday! It was a luxury for us to have that quality in our backfield when our money was spent elsewhere. Although we all knew Josh deserved elite money after last year, we also knew he likely was gone because our system is working and Gettleman can't and shouldn't screw up the system to keep one star (especially one in the wrong position).

For the record, Josh is a competitor, but I don't think he's actually a diva. He's made a bunch of "Batman" comments etc. that got attention, but it was generally in good fun. He's handled himself well in the locker room and in interviews. The whole OBJ thing was just stupid. It was great competition between two great players, both pushing the limits but only one lost composure. If not for that, you'd have never heard much of anything about the matchup. Josh will be a spark and a plus for your locker room.

Next question: Is he a steal?
I'd say yes. The downside is that you have to pay his value now as opposed to us paying for a rookie that turned elite. But still a steal. Not due to the price, but due to the fact that I think an elite corner can be a major part of your defense and you weren't going to get a Josh Norman quality CB in the draft or anywhere else in free agency. It would've been bad money for us to spend on him, but a good investment in your system. (Of course, you would know better than me if that is the case with your team's system.)

Now, did you overpay?
Maybe. It's hard to tell. There's no question he is a great CB. But the balanced view is that, again, our system has made receivers and secondary look much better than they really are. We have quite a list of mediocre DBs who have looked like stars here and then gotten a payday elsewhere that they didn't live up to.

But I have reason to believe that's not the case with Josh. Here's why: With those other DBs, we could watch games and tell that it was our system making them look better than they were. You couldn't tell that with Josh. In fact, he made a ton of plays that saved our butts in several games.

In fact, our front 7 actually had a challenging year. Kuechly was out several games, as was our best DE, Charles Johnson, and Thomas Davis, and we were still working on getting Greg Hardy's replacement, etc. Josh actually helped us get through those tough spots.

Still, bear in mind that he will occasionally get beat. For example, in that Giants game, OBJ beat him bad then dropped what should've been an easy TD right at the beginning of the day. (In fact, I think that drop played a major part in OBJ's breakdown) So Josh is not going to be Deion Sanders.


So I guess the bottom line is: If you think Josh is going to single-handedly elevate you to the next level, you may be disappointed. If you realize he's a really, really good corner that will make a lot more good plays than bad, you'll be very pleased with the results. I think he's not as good as some think, (because of how our system helps DBs) but he's definitely special and amazingly, I think he's still going to be getting even better in the next few years.

Yeah really good post. I do think we overpaid a bit. But my view is you have to overpay on a FEW of your players, just like some are going to be underpaid.

Byrd was hit by injuries and was never the same after them. Buffalo likely knew that may happen and hence why they let him go (or it was just luck). And he hit free agency from day 1 and had leverage in getting a big deal.

Norman's situation is very different from a high-priced FA acquisition, since we didn't acquire him when free agency started (he'd be with the Jags, Raiders, or Giants if he had hit free agency from day 1). He probably is not being paid what he would have commanded on the open market on day 1 of free agency; or at the very least, he would have gotten better terms in a similar contract (his deal with the Redskins is basically a 2-year deal).

All true but the fact remains that spending big dollars in free agency rarely works. Even the free agent signings that SM has done haven't worked out. I'm 50/50 on Norman.

I think it's important for some to recognize that Scot has a plan to build through the draft but that leaves a lot of mad money on the table when a guy like Josh Norman suddenly becomes available. They weren't out looking for a Josh Norman, he landed in their lap and they had the cash available so why not. Even if he doesn't excel in this defense, he has more upside than Culliver so it just makes sense to go ahead and do it, it doesn't get in the way of the long term plan so go for it..

Agreed. I like how we're sitting back and waiting for a guy like Norman to come along. But at 15 million a year he needs to excel in order for us to be a better defense.

if norman doesn't work out we have an out after year 2. it'd be an expensive mistake, but not catastrophic.

Nice fluff piece about how the deal went down, I enjoyed the part where Berry asks him when he'll be back (this is on the Sat after he signed) and he says Monday so he can get to work.

Josh Norman in D.C.: ‘I Can Have It All Here’ | The MMQB with Peter King (http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/05/11/nfl-josh-norman-redskins-how-deal-happened)

Agreed. I like how we're sitting back and waiting for a guy like Norman to come along. But at 15 million a year he needs to excel in order for us to be a better defense.

Which CBs on the roster in 2015-16 were better than Norman?

If the answer is none, then our defense just got better

Is there a better corner in the division let alone on this team now? I don't think so.

If Fuller can get healthy enough to play nickel(I'm in the camp of take all the time u need this year), this is easily the strongest CB situation the skins have ever been in. I actually think Bree, fuller and Norman could be top threesome CB in the league...def top 5. All depends on fuller health.