Josh Norman may have indeed played his final game in a Washington Redskins uniform. Norman will miss Sunday’s season finale against the Dallas Cowboys, as he deals with an illness. He did not travel with the team to Dallas.
Norman flashed on the scene after an All-Pro season in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers. However, the Panthers rescinded their franchise tag on the talented cornerback following their Super Bowl 50 appearance.
Norman signed a five-year deal with the Redskins after hitting free agency. Unfortunately, he never quite duplicated the success he had in Carolina.
Each year Norman’s struggles increased in Washington with those struggles coming to a head this season. Norman was a target of opposing quarterbacks, and after yielding two touchdowns in a Week 11 loss to the New York Jets he was benched and has not started a game since.
Instead, he was used in emergency situations, playing 10 total snaps in his last three appearances. Against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15, Norman was plugged in the defense after multiple injuries to cornerbacks ahead of him. He proceeded to allow the go-ahead touchdown to Greg Ward Jr.
Following that game, Norman proclaimed he is still an elite corner.
“I don’t believe anything. I am,” Norman said, via the Washington Post. “When you are something, you don’t believe it; you go out and do it. Sucks that I can’t prove it right now.”
Signs suggest the Redskins will move on from the aging Josh Norman. The team tried to trade him ahead of this season’s trade deadline to no avail. The team seemingly signed multiple cornerbacks the past couple of weeks to keep Norman from playing a significant role.
He is due to make $12 million in base salary next season in the final year of his contract, carrying a cap hit of $15.5 million, according to Spotrac.com. The Redskins would save $12.5 million against the cap if they let Norman go this offseason.
