Unexpected turn with tag
Apparently Norman didn’t completely burn bridges with Beane and McDermott, but he did burn some with the Panthers when leaving town.
As the story goes, Norman was franchise tagged fresh off that All-Pro season. But Norman, like many, didn’t want to be tagged. He wanted a long-term deal to get done and requested the tag be moved off of him.
In a surprise twist, that’s exactly what happened. In April 2016, the Panthers removed the non-exclusive franchise tag from him and he became a free agent. He got his big-money deal with the Redskins as he then immediately became a free agent when the tag was removed. That contract was a five-year deal worth $75 million.
Then-Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman commented and said “After a number of conversations with Josh’s agent we realized that a long-term deal was not attainable.”
The corner was in line to make $13.952 million under the franchise tag that year. By holding out, Norman got his wish, the biggest cornerback deal on the market at the time, surpassing Darelle Revis’ five-year, $70.1 million deal.
JOSH NORMAN.@J_No24 with the HUGE goal line interception! #HTTR
đź“ş: #WASvsPHI on ESPN pic.twitter.com/sn075gJz8n
— NFL (@NFL) December 4, 2018