Josh Norman is now a free agent - Panthers removed franchise tag

saspack said:

The kid has some attitude. Not a good fit to BB's team.

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The Panther team has a culture of over-the top showboating.

Not sure that belichick doesn't like, or even encourage, a little 'attitude' from his players when it serves a positive purpose on the field, (e.g. creating penalties and mistakes for the other team, intimidation, getting in their heads etc.). One thing for sure though is that Belichick will not tolerate attitude if it creates off field distractions that hurt the team.

saspack said:

The kid has some attitude. Not a good fit to BB's team.

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Time to take that 'tude to dah RAID-DAHS!!!

skspikex2 said:

Imagine Norman sign with the Giants.. the awkwardness with Odell Beckham Jr. At least practice will never get dull again.

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I'd pay money to see this, if only for the PR Jedi mind tricks the Giants would try to pull explaining the two were now best friends.

TheFlyingWedge said:

The Panther team has a culture of over-the top showboating.

Not sure that belichick doesn't like, or even encourage, 'attitude' from his players when it serves a positive purpose on the field, (e.g. creating penalties and mistakes for the other team, intimidation, getting in their heads etc.). One thing for sure though is that Belichick will not tolerate attitude if it creates off field distractions that hurt the team.

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Norman is an especially difficult case with his showboating. The guy was already a distraction on a winner. If he signs with the Rams, who will have some struggles, I could see his antics becoming destructive within the locker room when he faces a little adversity. The Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots, Chiefs, or Steelers would be an ideal landing spot for him to stay focused because he's on a winner. I'm not saying the Pats would take him, anyway, with his price and attitude. But for Norman, if he gets himself at all, he needs to choose a winner on else risks becoming a liability.

Joey007 said:

Just hope a team like the Jets don't go after him.

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This does not exist in this version of the Matrix.

Didn't realize he was so close to 30... He's not worth 14-16 per. And I'd rather see the core young players locked up. Starting to worry this the last year for HT-Collins-Butler trio as Patriots. Don't see how we come close to fitting Norman. Just based on BB's tendancies.

Would make for some talk, though.

Is he a Patriot yet?

I wouldn't mind if Norman were signed to a 1 year, $7 million deal so that he can boost his stock for next year. the problem for him is that no team is going to pay him what he wants now. the panthers really screwed him.

I would LOVE to have Norman on the Pats! Norman + Butler would be the best CB tandem in the NFL!

I don't think the money would work. But it's a nice dream to have. We are terrible at drafting CBs, so if ever there was a position where paying straight up cash makes sense...

PS As far as age goes, Norman is 28. DOB = 12/15/1987. Being born in December means he's one of the youngest 28 year olds as well. He'll still be 28 when the season starts and he will be in his prime for the next 3 years, which is probably Brady's realistic remaining window to win Ring #5.

He's an ahole. BB likes that in his corners.

VJCPatriot said:

We are terrible at drafting CBs...

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What do you mean: Ras I Dowling is coming back to the Pats, and he's gonna save us!

Someone else is going to make Norman a godfather offer that the Pats can't reasonably match without sacrificing their ability to keep Collins and Hightower long term. And whoever does that will be getting a really, really good CB.

It makes sense for the Panthers to rescind the tag, though. Look at where they spend their drat capital and their FA money, and it's clear that they value the front seven a ton, and feel that they can still have a really good defense without investing much in the secondary. I do think it's better to have talent concentrated in the front 7 with a deficit in the secondary than concentrating it in the secondary at the expense of the front 7.

Josh Norman didn't want to "settle" for ~$14 million for one year with the 15-1, Super Bowl runner-up Carolina Panthers. Call me crazy but I don't think he's looking for any kind of discount.

There are allegedly 8-9 teams vying for his services, including the Niners, Bucs, Steelers, and Fins, and somebody's going to give him the money he's looking for. It won't be us, or at least it shouldn't.

the team that I think would make the most sense would be Jax but I dont know if they will want to give him the money he wants, although they absolutely have the cap space

TommyBrady12 said:

I wouldn't mind if Norman were signed to a 1 year, $7 million deal so that he can boost his stock for next year. the problem for him is that no team is going to pay him what he wants now.

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Why would he have to "boost his stock for next year" by taking a one year, prove it deal? His stock is currently at the highest point it will ever be at. He just refused to sign the franchise tag at 14m dollars, and all signs point to him making much more than that this year on a longer term deal.

I also respectfully disagree that the time is somehow too late for anyone to pay him big money. There are plenty of team who are well under the cap. Some have 30-40-50 million dollars in available cap space. There are reportedly at least 25% of the NFL teams interested right off the bat.

BradyFTW! said:

It makes sense for the Panthers to rescind the tag, though. Look at where they spend their drat capital and their FA money, and it's clear that they value the front seven a ton, and feel that they can still have a really good defense without investing much in the secondary. I do think it's better to have talent concentrated in the front 7 with a deficit in the secondary than concentrating it in the secondary at the expense of the front 7.

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Is it possible that they rescinded the tag because he refused to sign it? I mean, why wouldn't they just do a tag/trade? Obviously, they could've received some decent compensation for him.

I honestly don't know the ins/outs of the situation, but it seems like they were attempting to reach a longer term deal that would be beneficial to both parties and that he was holding off on signing the tender until that happened. After many discussions it became apparent that they weren't going to find a middle ground, but it seems crazy odd to me that they wouldn't exhaust all options in terms of receiving some compensation for him, while still removing that 13.95m off the books via trade.

Rob0729 said:

I can't believe that the Panthers couldn't get at least a fourth rounder to trade his rights.

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Obviously, there are teams out there that would part with a 4th round pick (and likely a round or two higher) for the services of Norman, one of the top CBs in the entire game, but do the Panthers still control the rights to him when he outright refused to sign the franchise tag?

It would be absolutely shocking that one of the top CBs in the NFL couldn't bring them anything in return, so that possibility has to be ruled out due to common sense alone.

From an ESPN article a few seasons ago:

"When tagged, players have few options. They can sign the tender, as Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson did earlier this offseason, and hope that negotiations on a new deal will continue in earnest, which, for Jackson, they did. They can sign it, take the cash and hope for the best in the next offseason. Or they can refuse to sign the tender and try to force the team's hand by holding out."

Excellent corner but I would take resigning HT, Collins and Butler over him any Sunday. Lets keep the young strong core of the Defense together for as long as possible.

neuronet said:

What do you mean: Ras I Dowling is coming back to the Pats, and he's gonna save us!

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I hear he's finally healthy! He looked pretty good in that 2011 season opener. Going to be a beast.

ChrisR2223 said:

Hes a raven Giant Dolphin book it

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A raving giant dolphin? That sounds scary.