Tampa Bay Buccaneers should not sign Josh Norman

As expected, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the teams interested in signing sudden free agent cornerback Josh Norman, and while he is a great player who would fill a big need, the Bucs should resist temptation.

Although signing Josh Norman would not be a bad move for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, not every elite player on the open market should be signed by a team. The Bucs have just two noteworthy corners in Alterraun Verner and veteran free agent signing Brent Grimes, neither of whom put together strong tape in the 2015 regular season.

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That said, the above tweet from Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole illustrates why the Buccaneers should pull out of a charged-up bidding war for the former Carolina Panthers superstar CB. And, yes, it has everything to do with the money.

I’ll let the Tampa Bay Times’s Greg Auman explain the Buccaneers current cap situation, because while they could fit him into their budget, it is a squeeze.

We know Norman is a fantastic player, and for those of you who say that he’s only a one-year wonder, you should have paid attention to him in 2014. I can’t blame you for not jumping on the bandwagon early, though, and hopefully even the people who are the most skeptical of Norman’s talents can at least admit that his four interceptions and 18 passes defended last year transcend scheme questions.

Those same scheme questions won’t bother the Buccaneers, and I can’t see them having any complaints about Norman as a player. If signed, he would be one of the team’s five best players, and he would give an awful secondary a true star CB and its first actual playmaker. Remember, the Bucs were 26th in points per game allowed in 2015 with 31 passing touchdowns surrendered and just 11 interceptions of their own.

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Here’s the problem. If Norman was too expensive for the NFC champs, then should the Buccaneers really bite? With Jameis Winston, Doug Martin, and Mike Evans, the Bucs are no longer a rebuilding bottom-feeder, and adding Norman could be enough to put this defense in a much better position, assuming they are able to nail down a star pass rusher with the ninth overall pick (cross your fingers for Shaq Lawson).

Buccaneers GM Jason Licht learned from his mistakes in his first year as a GM, back when he added famed free agent busts like Anthony Collins and Michael Johnson. Instead of being overly active in free agency this offseason, he focused on signing the likes of Grimes, J.R. Sweezy (ugh), and Robert Ayers instead of pursuing the big names.

It was a surprise to see the Buccaneers elect against adding a bigger name pass rusher than Ayers, which means that the No. 9 overall pick would be ideally spent on an edge defender. That seemingly opens things up for the Buccaneers to fill their need at cornerback by signing Norman instead of drafting, say, Vernon Hargreaves III.

I don’t buy it.

Grimes is not a player fans should be overly excited about, because he did seem to lose a step last year. However, reports of his demise are still a tad too early, because he did make plays on the ball and was still at least average in coverage. That’s more than what I can say for the other corners on the Bucs roster.

The Bucs don’t seem like a team that should get into a bidding war and overpay for a 28-year-old corner. I understand how good Norman is, I understand how much of an upgrade he is, and I understand that some out there may feel that the Bucs are one standout piece on defense away from cracking the postseason.

But I look at free agency in an almost Belichickian way, and it all boils down to this: Why risk your future financial stability on a short-term gain that won’t win you a ring?

Norman is a great player, but the Buccaneers could end up hurting their ability to stockpile better free agent values in the future at the expense of adding a great player who won’t turn the team into a contender. I know it sounds like too big of a jump to make the generalization that a player isn’t valuable if they can’t win you a ring, but it’s not like the Buccaneers are in the Oakland Raiders or Jacksonville Jaguars positions. As in, they don’t have a copious amount of cap space, and they have already made moves in free agency, albeit small ones.

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In all honesty, the Buccaneers should just stick with making small signings, as opposed to splurging on 28-year-old cornerbacks. It’s a process, and signing Norman is the kind of “make-the-leap” signing the Buccaneers aren’t necessarily in a position to make. I wouldn’t crush them for signing him, because, as I will maintain, he is a fantastic player. But at a Janoris Jenkins price on a long-term deal for a player who is older than Jenkins (even if he is markedly better)? No thank you. Take a page from the team that won your division.