Josh Norman: 'I Got Swideswiped'

In his first on-the-record comments since the Carolina Panthers set him free, cornerback Josh Norman admitted he was as shocked as the rest of us when the news dropped.

"It came out of nowhere. It really did," Norman said Friday night, via Redskins.com, his new team's website.

"I got sideswiped — I didn’t see it coming."

Early contract numbers, which usually look better than they truly are, show Norman's loss in Carolina was a gain in his bank account. Washington reportedly gave him a 5-year deal worth $75 million, making him the highest-paid corner in the NFL. Multiple reports also say he's guaranteed at least $50 million, a far cry from the $13.9 million he would have made if he signed the Panthers' 1-year tender.

Again, dollar amounts in these cases are best accompanied by a grain of salt until the structure of the deal is revealed. But in the span of just two days, Norman got paid, and the Redskins made arguably the biggest splash of the offseason.

"When [the franchise tag was rescinded] it was crazy because Mr. Bruce (Allen), the (Redskins) President, hit [me] up right away with a jersey, No. 24," Norman said. "And the crazy thing is I didn’t see it until a day and a half later because I was still getting over the fact of what was going on.

"Being somewhere 28 years all your life and just in a blink of an eye, gone, just like that, I’ve just never been without a job … That small amount of hours, everything went rapid and I came up here and it just felt right."

The last time Norman was around so much burgundy and gold, it was during a Panthers' 44-16 Week 11 rout when he had four tackles and forced a fumble. Five months to the day, he claimed memories from that rout helped lead him to his new home.

"I would say what attracted me the most was that it still was a competitive team," Norman said. "When we played you guys last year, y’all was competing all the way until the bitter end. It was no let-up. You guys had the fight in you all. You’re a playoff team; it was in the thick of things. And one piece here, one piece there, you guys can do what Carolina (did) when they went to the Super Bowl last year."

"I want to win the granddaddy of them all. I want to win the Super Bowl. And I’m not going to stop until I get back there. Because I know I will one day and then make the wrong a right."

Before finalizing his deal in Washington, Norman posted a video inside the meeting room where he was hoping to "turn a tragedy into something better":

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Cyteria Knight

I’m a little surprised that Josh felt or was ‘so-called’ sideswiped. Because 1. He didn’t sign the tender and 2. Reportedly Josh verbalized not liking the ‘Franchise Tag’ system anyway. And 3. Josh had to have known he was never going to get his reported asking price of between 15-16M from DG. I’m sure we’ll hear more about the details of this than we want to over the next several days.
- Travis Harrison
  
  Well when you think about the last time the franchise tag was rescinded that in itself brings some shock value.
  
  1. That’s his only leverage when being tagged. JNo didn’t do anything out of the norm when a player is looking for a long term deal. People sometimes confuse not signing the tender as a way to ask for more money (not saying it doesn’t play a factor in it) but it’s more of a means to secure a long term deal. If JNo would’ve played under the tag and got hurt, yeah he would’ve gotten the 14mil but he would’ve never came close to seeing a 50mil deal in guarantees.
  
  2. The franchise tag system is a tool to give ownerships and the franchises more leverage in contracts. Yeah they have to pay a nice price for that one year but as I aforementioned, if said player gets hurt or has an off year they can turn around and get you for a fraction of a price opposed to if the player hits the open market as an FA after a monster year like JNo just had.
  
  3. JNo wanted to give Carolina every single opportunity to sign him to a long term contract. You never know, he plays out the tag and he’s coming up on 30 and things/the dynamic is different. He may not want as large of a contract after a full year has past.
  - Cyteria Knight
    
    Well no matter how this turned out it doesn’t alter my opinion of Josh or Panthers FO. I’m happy for Josh and the Panthers. In the end it looks to be a win-win for both parties. Must admit I’m going to miss Josh’s big personality on and off the field.
    - Travis Harrison
      
      Oh I agree 1000% lol I didn’t even want to pay him the contract DG offered him at the combine haha.
      
      It just seems every time the team decides to part ways with players recently, specifically players who have played their whole career here, some how fans find a way to throw shade at those players. As if it was their decision to part ways when in all actuality, in every situation, it has been our FO’s call. Idk, it’s just baffling to me lol
- Eric B.
  
  It sounds like, although we’ll never hear it directly, that Josh’s agent probably threatened that he would not sign the tender until the season was scheduled to start. As Mike Harmon on Fox Sports stated that it’s on the player if the agent takes an approach that declares war with the other side.The player should at least control that part of the bargaining. I’m not critical of Josh-just the sideswipe comment. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but we know Gettleman will never talk about the negotiations publicly. It probably gives him a good rep in the agent community as a guy who’s tough but doesn’t talk out of school, but it does leave the public and the media completely in the dark.
  - Cyteria Knight
    
    I’m with you. If Josh’s agent brought the negotiations to such a point that it became obvious that no movement on price was going to occur If Josh wanted to stay, he could have signed the tender & they could have committed to working on it till the deadline. There has to be a reason that immediately after the news of rescinding the tag took place. Josh hired a new agent. I do think that Josh bears responsibility for these negotiations going south. Look what happened with Charles Johnson. Reportedly he had to set his agent straight and let him know that following outreach from other teams offering more money, if possible he still wanted to return to Carolina.
    I’m not suggesting that at this stage of Josh’s career he should accept less money than he feels he’s worth but I am saying he should accept responsibility for how the negotiations played out. ‘Sideswiped’ I just don’t think Josh was paying attention as he should.
Antonio Earl

contradicting statement from Mr. Norman:

“,,,during a Panthers’ 44-16 Week 11 rout when he had four tackles and
forced a fumble”…. then goes onto say “I would say what attracted me the most was that it still was a
competitive team,” Norman said. “When we played you guys last year,
y’all was competing all the way until the bitter end. It was no let-up”… hmmmmm
disqus_uD4oT5bwAq

Good luck 24. You’ll need more than most in what has been proven the most dysfunctional franchise in the NFL. Great money though. Hope you earn 12.
William Berry

Doesn’t matter any longer he is gone and this team and fan base must move on!

Black and Blue Review

Black and Blue Review

Josh Norman: ‘I Got Swideswiped’