Last week, the Panthers decided to rescind the franchise tag on cornerback Josh Norman all of a sudden, a move that shocked NFL fans as well as Norman himself. The team had originally placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the top-rated corner on March 1, but Norman did not sign it. Instead, his agent, Michael George, and the Panthers were trying to work out a long-term deal.
According to Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman, the reason behind letting Norman go was because they couldn’t agree on terms for a longer deal and because he felt Norman did not want to be there long-term…but that was not all the way true. While there was an approximate $25 million difference between the value of the contract that Norman’s agent tried to get and the contract that the Panthers were willing to offer, Norman says he would’ve just signed the franchise tender had he known that they were so far apart in negotiations. But Norman claims he was kept in the dark about the whole thing, and as a result, was completely blindsided on Wednesday when he found out that the Panthers had rescinded their offer.
Norman says he even went to the team and offered to sign the tag or to come up with another one-year deal, but they told him it was too late. They had made up their minds and were not willing to take him back.
Norman admits that he was hurt by their decision at first. “I asked him what was up,” he told ESPN, referring to Gettleman. “Shoot, I dedicated all my life there, put in blood and tears. … He was like, ‘Yeah, man. I’m sorry. Your agent is a reflection of you.'” He added that he puts the blame on Gettleman for him not being in Carolina anymore.
However, it seems with a new home and a new deal to look forward to, he’ll be able to move on and get past this ugly situation. “I didn’t even know none of that was going on. It is what it is. I’m here in a better place. I ain’t trippin'”.
We all know how good of a player Norman is and how much value he brought to the Carolina defense, which is why it seemed unusual that the team would let him go in the first place. And now with Norman saying that he wanted to stay in Carolina and that he tried desperately to rectify the situation, it begs the question….what really happened between Josh Norman and the Panthers?
