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The Carolina Panthers have rescinded the franchise tag they had placed on cornerback Josh Norman, allowing him to become a free agent. Norman was reportedly looking for $16 million per year and he and the Panthers were never reportedly close to a deal. This move could come back to haunt the Panthers since Norman was the best at his position last year.
The 28-year-old notched 56 combined tackles, intercepted four passes, defensed another 19 passes, had three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and scored two touchdowns. On top of that he held quarterbacks to a 54 passer rating, for tops in the NFL. That is production you can’t easily replace. Shutdown cornerbacks are among the rarest commodities in the NFL, and nobody was as good as Norman last year.
In 10 games last year, he allowed two or fewer receptions. He didn’t allow a single pass to be caught over 36 yards including in the playoffs. He was targeted four times in the Super Bowl and didn’t allow a catch. The Panthers can’t replace him. He allowed only two catches for 24 yards to DeAndre Hopkins. Mike Evans managed one catch against him for 15 yards in one game. Dez Bryant was held to one catch for six yards on five targets. Julio Jones had nine catches for 113 yards over two games. Good luck finding someone to completely take away the opposing team’s best receiver.
The Panthers decided they would stand their ground. That’s fine. They do have other players who will need to be paid in coming years, and giving Norman $16 million per year wasn’t financially viable for them. The question is, would Norman have sat out the entire year if he played under the franchise tag, potentially ruining his chance of reaping a large payday next season? Not likely.
Losing Norman is a huge blow to the Panthers’ hopes to return to the Super Bowl. Losing him doesn’t kill their chances to return to the Super Bowl, but they are certainly facing a tougher road without him.
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