Buffalo Bills: Signing Josh Norman a gamble to maintain secondary

The Buffalo Bills have pounced on veteran cornerback Josh Norman, reportedly signing him to a one-year deal, which is a gamble under Sean McDermott.

With quarterback Josh Allen entering his third NFL season with the Buffalo Bills and as the team comes off an AFC Wild Card berth last year, general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott clearly believe they are in a championship window. And with over $82 million in salary-cap space (via Over the Cap) and a full arsenal of draft picks, the team has the opportunity to capitalize.

Apparently, they are ready to go even before the NFL free agency period begins. On Monday, the Bills reportedly agreed to sign veteran cornerback Josh Norman to a one-year deal with a base salary of $6 million that has the potential to move up to $8 million with incentives, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. Norman was cut by Washington earlier this offseason.

Prior to landing in the nation’s capital, Norman spent four seasons with the Carolina Panthers as he entered the league. His defensive coordinator over that run was none other than the current Bills head coach, McDermott. That familiarity undoubtedly aided Buffalo in bringing in the veteran cornerback.

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It also stands to reason as to why the Bills would be in on adding to their secondary. While Tre’Davious White has emerged as one of the top players at the position in the NFL, Levi Wallace has been up and down and is now an exclusive rights free agent. Furthermore, Buffalo relied quite a bit on veteran Kevin Johnson last season but he’s set to hit free agency himself.

As things stand now, it figures that Norman may be a one-for-one replacement for Johnson in the secondary. Johnson largely split time with Wallace last season and, as Buffalo will likely bring back Wallace on a cheap contract, they could be looking to do the same with Norman in the fold.

Doing so, however, is a risky proposition for the club trying to take control of the AFC East with the Patriots seemingly in-flux. Norman, to put it mildly, has performed poorly over the past couple of seasons with Buffalo. To put it into perspective, per PFF (subscription required), Norman gave up 13 touchdowns over all four seasons in Carolina but has given up 16 in just the past two seasons alone with Washington.

Johnson, meanwhile, was a solid, albeit unspectacular, player for Buffalo in his brief time with the organization. So possibly moving on from him to bring in Norman is certainly a gamble — a gamble that reuniting with McDermott will reinvigorate the 32-year-old former fifth-round pick to something much closer to his 2015 Pro Bowl form than what he’s displayed recently.

Having said that, the Bills are in a financial position to take these kinds of short-term risks on a player like Josh Norman. While $6 million in base salary is far from negligible, the Bills still rank in the top five in the NFL in cap space this offseason, meaning there is still plenty of room to operate.

Given his performance with Washington in recent years, betting that Norman will be a Pro Bowler again would be unwise. However, as the Bills hope to maintain their secondary in addition to improving the rest of their roster in a burgeoning championship window, adding the veteran cornerback is a luxury roll of the dice worth making.