It was about a month ago when football fans everywhere were glued to the Twitter feed of Adam Schefter as domino after domino continued to fall in the Free Agency Frenzy of the NFL Offseason.
While we thought that our stomachs were plenty full off of juicy moves and acquisitions by various teams, we were given one last and final eye-popping serving when Josh Norman signed with the Washington Redskins on Friday.
The move makes the NFL’s most storied division and its 2016 storylines all the more interesting. In case you haven’t heard, Josh Norman and Odell Beckham Jr. have themselves quite the history. We now get to see that battle twice a year.
Perhaps overlooked in the hoopla of Norman-To-Washington is that he will also have to face off against Dez Bryant twice a season. Much to Josh’s chagrin I’m not speaking about the Thanksgiving Day 2015 version of Dez Bryant that Norman most recently faced… I’m talking about a 100% healthy Dez Bryant with a 100% healthy Tony Romo. He’ll learn soon enough.
It had been curiously long since Dan Synder, owner of the Washington Redskins, made a move of this type. Typically Mr. Snyder embodies the persona that people often apply to Jerry Jones more often than Mr. Jones himself. Cowboys fans everywhere were starting to get worried that perhaps Snyder had wised up. It’s nice to see that some things never change.
In total Josh Norman’s deal with Washington is 5-years for $75 Million with $50 Million in guarantees. Some will say that this is too much to pay a 29-year old cornerback with one legitimate year of success, and while that is true… it’s too much to pay to any cornerback in general.
This type of money, specifically those type of guarantees, are only truly worth it at the most impactful positions in football: Quarterback and Pass Rusher. Even the legend of Deion Sanders would have a hard time influencing the game to a degree that it would be worth that much money.
The nature of football dictates the game as such that a cornerback simply cannot influence the overall game the way that a quarterback/pass rusher can. It’s just the way that the game works. The Cowboys have learned that paying cornerbacks big time money just isn’t smart business.
As you can see the Cowboys are still paying the price, no pun intended, on their big investment at the cornerback position (Brandon Carr is one people would like to forget). They have finally learned how to play the financial game wisely and are gearing away from that, while Washington just saddled themselves into it for the foreseeable future.
Is Josh Norman an elite NFL cornerback? Yes. Don’t let the fact that he now wears enemy colors influence the opinion that you had on him just days ago when you secretly hoped that he’d be a Dallas Cowboy.
What you can hang your hat on is that while he’s an elite NFL cornerback, even the elite ones aren’t worth this kind of money. No cornerback is. Let’s all sit back now and watch the Washington Redskins learn that lesson the hard way.
What do you make of Josh Norman as a Washington Redskin? Let us know! Comment below, Email me at RJ@RJOchoaShow.com, or Tweet to me at @rjochoa!
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