Josh Norman

[Topcat]

Thomas Davis 2.0?

Well, Norman is 32, and Old Man Davis is 36...so Norman might still have some gas left in the tank. Even though Norman's production has declined the past few years, with all our injury issues at CB, we sure could use the depth:

image.png
http://www.nfl.com/player/joshnorman...20/careerstats

[Bolt4Knob]

Thomas Davis 2.0?

Jason from OTC puts out great information. Not just how each team has in terms of cap space. But how that cap is spent. HIs data shows that if you are spending a lot of money for players over 30 and those players are getting a lot of snaps - the results are usually not positive.

Mebane - I wanted him gone a year ago
Okung and Pouncey - injury history + cap hits might mean one or both
TD -a lot of tackles but he looked slow at times

I am not saying No to Josh Norman - just wait until real free agency and the draft.

[Steve]

To me, waiting makes it a NO for Norman. You have a chance to jump on a more motivated player early and fill the hole in the roster earlier, so that we can prioritize other roster holes. I suspect, like a lot of street FA, he will commit before FA. Plus, I think that is what it will take to get him in the right frame of mind. Again, I didn't think he was a very good fit, but waiting would make it even less attractive. The downside for Norman would be is that he would have to take the salary we offer him. Again, there is no sense overpaying for a less than perfect fit, and Norman needs us to rebuild his career as much as we need him to play back up to his ability.

I get the scheme thing with Norman. But then Hayward is a poor fit for that too. Desmond King as well. Michael Davis may have played badly last year, but putting him out on an island in man coverage would be a disaster waiting to happen. If we pass on players because we are switching to press man coverages, that means we need to ditch everyone and start over. We are a lot closer to having a very good zone D than a press coverage personnel. At some point you have to make compromises between what you WANT to do, and what you can find players to do.

Our pass coverage under Gus have been pretty good overall, and that has been with only 1 season of decent FS play with Boston, and only the 1 OK year with Williams at CB. The coverage was still pretty good, but there were weak spots with Addae/Jenkins at FS and Davis at CB. Norman can still play and when he is focused he is still a good man off and zone CB in football. And with James moving around to get matchups, King and Hayward both playing a similar style, it would be fairly easy to fit him in. He would be a huge upgrade over Davis, even if he only plays up to his level in Washington.

Mebane was brought back (last year) to be the assistant assistant DL coach. He was a meeting room guy and hold down the NT spot for one more year (last year). It is not like the NT spot is going to make a lot of plays, but he is pretty well done. Given the players we have, maybe we ditch the idea of a NT and an UT (3 tech) altogether. It used to be back in the day, teams 2 DT, that would alternate the NT and penetrating tackle responsibilities. One guy would penetrate, the other play the draws and screens, while occupying blockers. Our top 3 DT have all played NT and 3 tech, so it is not a complete shot in the dark. Broughton, despite the skill set of being more a penetrator, was played mostly at NT last year (I cannot recall a single snap where I didn't see him lined up at NT).

As far as Okung goes, he is still the only really decent OL we have. He is expensive, but we aren't going to get a better LT, even if we draft one at #6, at least in the short term. The simply aren't a lot of LT out there, and he is not really that close to being the top of the LT payscale any more (he is tied for 5th overall). I find it more than a bit amusing that people are talking about cutting him, making OL a bigger disaster without him. Lots of LT play into their mid 30's. Now, that being said he may not want to, but can we really afford to get rid of a player who is already under contract at a reasonable price? He would clear a lot of cap space, but the is no comparable pass protector in FA (don't even suggest Conklin, since he is not nearly the pass protector Okung is).

Davis really struggled to learn the scheme we were playing. He was out of position, overran some plays, was out of position on others. An awful lot of his tackles are way downfield in pursuit, not with him attacking the line, although he can still flash some ability in close to the line. His biggest issue is that he is turning into a liability in coverage, which used to be his strength. Just make him the Assistant LB coach and be done with it.

[FarAwayBoltFan]

Rivera had him in Carolina and let him go. That’s a red flag to me. But I like his talent and feistiness on the field. Would definitely give the team an edge.

Rivera had him once in Carolina and again in Washington. Riverboat Ron sent him packing twice.

But, he would fill a glaring hole and reduce the pressure to draft for need. As I see it, TT and Gus should watch 2019 video and if he can still play, bring him in for a visit.

He also has an existing relationship with Casey. They were jokingly tweeting back and forth a few years ago about who would be CB1 if they were on the same team

[Steve]

In both cases, his release is as much more about salary cap than anything else.

In Carolina, they simply didn't have the money to give him a contract he would have been happy with, so they let him go, getting nothing for him. It is my understanding that Rivera had almost nothing to say in it, that Gettleman made the decision almost completely by himself.

The Redskins appear to have a lot of cap space, but they have a lot of demands, and still have the Alex Smith thing looming over them, which has a lot more to do with it. Now, in this case, Ron probably did have some say in it. Normally, the Redskins front office will do things completely on their own, with little or no input from the coaches, but they are usually on their best behavior with a new coach. Plus, Norman and Rivera have been quite public that they were talking over the last few weeks. THey even had dinner last week/early this week. Presumably that was about reducing his cap number.