Josh Norman becomes free agent
The Carolina Panthers have removed the franchise tag from Josh Norman, making him a free agent.
In one of the biggest free agency shockers in recent memory, the Panthers are allowing Josh Norman to become an unrestricted free agent, according to Ian Rapoport. Of course, this has sent 31 fan bases into ecstacy, wondering if their team could reel in one of the best corners the NFL has to offer.
The Kansas City Chiefs certainly would love to add Norman, replacing Sean Smith with a First-Team All-Pro. Norman is 28 years old and coming off the best year of his career, so he won’t come cheap. It will likely cost somewhere around $15 million per season, and general manager John Dorsey doesn’t have that type of cap space.
Currently, Over The Cap lists the Chiefs as having $6,073,955 million in space. However, the NFLPA says Kansas City has less than a $1 million in space, perhaps already taking the draft class into account.
The #Chiefs currently have $782,000 in cap room, according to the NFLPA’s latest cap report.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) April 20, 2016
So how does Kansas City make room? Well, signing Eric Berry is the huge option. Berry is a $10.8 million cap hit and a long-term deal lowers that by around $6 million.
Frankly, I would steer clear of Norman. You are talking about a huge deal that might prohibit the Chiefs from keeping Eric Fisher and Dontari Poe past this year. I would rather see Dorsey sign Berry long-term and use the new-found savings to roll salary cap space into 2017. I would also rather draft a corner in the first round and have a cheap, good player f0r five years.