After little more than a day on the open market, cornerback Josh Norman has agreed to sign for the Washington Redskins on a fiveyear contract worth $75 million, per the NFL’s Ian Rapoport. Norman’s new contract makes the highest paid cornerback in the National Football League, as his average income of $15 million per season is nearly a full million dollars more than the annual income of Arizona’s Patrick Peterson, who makes $14.1 million per season.
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Norman unexpectedly became a free agent Wednesday when the Carolina Panthers took back the exclusive franchise tag that bound him to the team for the 2016 season. Norman was contacted by roughly 10 teams within hours of the Panthers cutting him free, but Washington wouldn’t let him leave the building without a contract.
The Redskins hosted Norman and his camp for a wooing session Friday after several players made recruiting pitches via Twitter.
The Dallas Cowboys could afford Josh Norman, if they chose to get in on the $15-mil-a-year bidding for the free agent Pro Bowl cornerback.
The Carolina Panthers rescinded Norman’s franchise tag April 20.
I’m looking forward to getting back to the playoffs here. I got my La Famila with me.
“When that happened it was insane because Mr. Bruce (Allen), the (Redskins) President, hit you up right away with a jersey, No. 24, and the insane thing is I didn’t see it until a day and a half later because I was still getting over the fact of what was going on”.
Norman stated emphatically that he wanted to win “the granddaddy of them all” with Washington – and he wasn’t referring to the Rose Bowl.
Norman’s remaining base salaries of $11 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2020 are non-guaranteed. He will face his former team, the Panthers, on December 19, also a Monday night.
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The addition of Norman gives the Redskins an aggressive cornerback to go up against the likes of New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant twice a year.
