Panthers name right decision with Norman

With the league making it so easy to pass the ball, it’s very hard to sustain being the best cornerback in the league.

You never see a team rescind a franchise tag they places on a player to allow them to become a free agent. Only elite players get tags put on them so if a team has the ability and cap space to keep them for at least one more year, there is no reason not to keep them. But the Panthers let Josh Norman go. They called it a business move to let the best cornerback in the league last season just walk away.

The move to let Norman go came after the Panthers saw no path to getting a long term deal done. Norman wants somewhere between $15 million to $17 million per year. The Panthers were willing to give him around $12 million. They felt that extra $5 million would be more beneficial going toward improving their team in other areas, so they just moved on.

With the rule changes in the NFL making it so hard to defend the pass, it seems counter-intuitive to let an elite shutdown cornerback walk. And make no bones about it; Norman was the best shutdown cornerback in the league last year. But he is no worth as much money as he wants.

Norman has to do what is best for him and his family. In a violent sport where retired players can rack up massive medical bills and a sport with a short shelf-life on top of it, if Norman knows a team is willing to shell out those big bucks to get him, he should go for it. But the Panthers are making the right decision but letting him go. With the money they would be paying Norman the Panthers can make sure they have the money to lock up both Kawann Short and Star Lotulelei on long term deals. They can also improve their receiving core and offensive lines.

While Norman was the best cornerback in the league last year, the rule changes also make it very difficult for a cornerback to have long term success. Richard Sherman fell back to reality after playing at an elite level for a few years. Joe Haden, Chris Harris, Vontae Davis, Aqib Talib and Stephon Gilmore were all looked at as elite or rising cornerbacks but all have shown their faults the past year or two. It’s the nature of the game. No cornerback is worth that much money.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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