When it was first reported that the Carolina Panthers rescinded Josh Norman‘s $13.952 million franchise tag, I, like many of you, was outraged. How could the Panthers let one of the league’s three best cornerbacks go for nothing? Is Dave Gettleman really that arrogant and insane?
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No, he’s just a genius who approaches team-building differently than everyone else, and it’s important to remember how Josh Norman grew into his spot with the team. If we go back to that, then we can glean further insight into why the Carolina Panthers decision to let him go makes sense.
First, let’s ignore this line of thinking.
Context from Panthers source: Panthers didn’t think looming distraction of an inevitable holdout was worth the one-year, $14 million lease.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) April 20, 2016
If the Panthers really thought an impending holdout would be too much of a distraction, then they wouldn’t have been NFC champions last year. This isn’t a legitimate reason for cutting ties with a star player, so I’m not buying this at all. But if you are, well, I know a guy who can help you avoid distractions.
See, the Panthers are spinning this, but let me spin you my version of why I think they decided to rescind the franchise tag. After all, this is “NFL Spin Zone”.
Norman joined the Panthers organization as a fifth-round pick in the 2012 draft out of Coastal Carolina. He ran a 4.57 forty, so, naturally, nobody knew who the heck he was.
Although Norman joined the Panthers one year before Gettleman did, he is just like all of the other defensive backs on the roster.
Josh Norman 5th-round pick
Bene Benwikere 5th-round pick
Robert McClain 7th-round pick, reuinted as a free agent signing, $810,000
Brandon Boykin, $680,000 free agent signing
Tre Boston fourth-round pick
Kurt Coleman, free agent signing for two years, $3.5 million overall
As you can see, the Panthers do not spend much on defensive backs, whether that’s in terms of draft picks or financial costs. That approach has worked for them- they were 2nd in the NFL in net yards per pass attempt and first in interceptions- so why would they change it now?
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Look, I might tick off some people with this statement, but I don’t think the Panthers ever intended to keep Norman. I mean, they franchised him with the intention of working out a deal to keep him, but it’s implied that they would have to keep him at a discounted rate. That was never going to happen, because Norman knows he’s worth more than that. Meanwhile, I highly doubt the Panthers were ever interested in even giving him market value.
That’s because “market value” for Norman is the freaking solar system. He is the NFL’s “It” defensive back right now. After shutting down the likes of Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant with ease while defending 18 passes and picking off four others, Norman knows he can roll in dough. At 28, it would be his final payday, which is why his demands have been in the almost-outlandish $15-16 million per year range (via Charles Robinson of Yahoo).
And therein lies why the Carolina Panthers were never going to keep him. Sure, Norman is such a beastly player that he’s worth that amount of money, or even nearly $14 million for one season of play, to many teams around the league, but the Panthers aren’t one of those teams. They don’t see the value in spending that much money on one defensive backs, and they weren’t about to go against their M.O. for one player.
That’s all especially true for a player who is 28 years old. My guess is that the Panthers franchised Norman simply because they wanted to buy some time to talk contract. They never had any intention of blowing almost $14 million on a cornerback, no matter how well that player performed. I bet the Panthers wanted to see if he would take a hometown discount, a la Charles Johnson, and then just let him go if he kept his demands high.
The flaw with this thinking is this, “Why didn’t the Panthers rescind the tag sooner?” And my rebuttal to that is simply that they had no pressure on them to cut ties with him, and they could have easily dragged this out a little longer. In this case, they probably felt that it was a waste of time, since Norman wouldn’t budge.
Basically, Gettleman is a man of principle, and he had an idea of how much certain players are worth. He’s made big hits on cheap free agents and mid and late-round talents at defensive back, and he sees no reason to buck that trend by spending big money on a corner now.
Remember, for as good as Norman was last season, he’s 28. Now, he has the ball skills, run defense, physicality, and intelligence to play at a high level for a few more years, and he should age well. However, there’s no guarantee that he will, and cornerbacks, particularly slow ones, can decline rapidly. We’ve seen it before, and I doubt the Panthers wanted to run that risk with Norman.
Does this make them more likely to draft a corner in the first round after looking for value at the position for so long? Perhaps. But it’s clear to me that the Panthers used the franchise tag in the hopes that Norman would give into their demands, rather than as a means of keeping him at all costs. That’s not how they play it, and we shouldn’t be surprised at his release.
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It’s easy to be arrogant and chastise the Panthers for “not trying to trade” Norman, but is it really that inconceivable to think that nobody wanted to trade for a player on the franchise tag who has extravagant demands? Better to negotiate with him in free agency first than rather get into grueling talks with him through the summer, losing a draft pick with no guarantee of more than one year of play.