Highlights from cornerback Josh Norman's first media availability since he signed with the Redskins
On the roller coaster of the past few days:
"It's kind of crazy; now I'm sitting up here talking to you guys on another team, other colors. It's kind of still surreal, but I'm blessed, and I've very, very fortunate to be here with this magnitude of an organization. I can't say enough great things about it. The history here is 84 years-plus. This is the golden age of football when you come down here to the NFC East, so I'm loving it right now."
On the Redskins' effort to sign him
"All my life, I was [never] recruited by any big-time organization, or anything like that. Come through high school; there was no big one other than Georgia. But I went up there; they didn't come see me. In college, I walked onto Coastal Carolina. And coming out of Coastal Carolina to the Carolina Panthers, there wasn't no big hurrah. But now on the biggest stage in the world, and I get to be a free agent, it was like a party. So I kind of got a feeling of how those first-rounders and everybody felt when all the glitz and glam started coming."
On becoming the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL
"I guess you’ve got to know yourself, know your worth, huh? I guess I know my worth; I know myself."
On if being freed by Carolina gives him extra motivation:
"Oh my goodness. I carried a big bag with me when I came up here. Still got that bag. And it's on the back right now. You can't see it, but when I step in between the white lines, I'm going to drop it. So when you see it, it's going to be pretty, pretty heavy. So I can't wait till that time comes. Right now, I'm just getting acclimated with my new teammates and showing them how much I care about them and loving up on them and getting to know them. But back in Carolina, they're my guys. They're my teammates, my brothers. I love every last each and one of them. Nothing's changed from that perspective of me. I'm human, you know? This happened kind of like overnight in a way. I've still got those feelings, but at the end of the day, you have to understand it's a business. For me, I just looked at that and took it as I'm here to help someone else, ... Now I'm a leader for a team that really wants me and truly do value me and what I can bring to the table and now I'm ready to give everything I've got to them."
On realizing he'd have to leave the Carolinas for the first time in his life
"I sat in my room for a little while, just like staring at the wall. I really didn't want to be around nobody or deal with anything. I was trying to deal with it in my own way. When you've played for somebody and been there for 28 years of your life, and just kind of by night you get snatched up out of there, it's a shaken feeling. It's kind of shaking the foundations of what you know — your normal, every day, going through life. And now, there was a ram in the bush, and in that ram, God saw it for me to come up here to the Washington Redskins and be here because somebody valued me. I'm not in my comfort zone, but how can you grow if you're not in your comfort zone? So I took that pledge and decided that I'm going to do something great and magnificent here."
On how he'll fit in with the Redskins' secondary
"I'm just so appreciative of the (defensive coordinator) and my position coach so much because they allow me to be myself and allow me to do the things that I've done. I can't speak enough about that, and I really do appreciate them for not trying to put me in no bubble or box. They'll let me do my thing, and I can't speak enough about that. Some of my other coaches did when I was in Carolina, but here I'm really going to show you something different."