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Josh Norman blasts NFC East rivals Odell Beckham and Dez Bryant

The offseason seemed a bit strange … oh yes, Josh Normal hadn’t ramped up any feuds with some inflammatory comments.

You knew it was coming at some point.

Norman, the Washington Redskins cornerback who has never shied away from controversial comments, took on two of his favorite enemies in a Bleacher Report story by Tyler Dunne, ripping New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham and Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant.

Beckham is an old nemesis, going back to a crazy game in 2015 when Norman was with the Carolina Panthers and the two spent most of the afternoon brawling. Apparently Norman wasn’t violent enough on that day against the Giants. He told Bleacher Report he wished he would have “let myself go that game.” When asked if he meant fisticuffs, he answered in the affirmative.

“Everything. The whole thing,” Norman said. “I was held back by trying to play it cool, trying to be a good guy. Screw that.”

Then – this theme will be repeated later, when it comes to Bryant – Norman questioned Beckham’s toughness.

“He tries to be a tough guy,” Norman said. “He tries to put on this persona which he’s not.

“When people get physical, tough, like the Minnesota game, he acts out. He’s a kid. He’s a big kid, man.”

On Beckham, Norman added, “I hope I don’t catch him outside. Let’s just say that.”

Norman isn’t an admirer of Bryant either.

“That’s a guy. Just a guy,” Norman said. “Dez was Dez in 2012, ’13, ’14. Maybe ’14. Now? He’s a guy.”

Norman said Bryant doesn’t “wow” him because while he bullies other cornerbacks with his physical play, he can’t do that to Norman.

“He’s trying to be a tough guy and that’s not him,” Norman told Dunne. “That’s not how you play ball. The media really created this ‘talk trash’ with me. I don’t really talk to these guys. They’re talking to themselves. I just play them.”

And to wrap it all up, Norman promised “bad blood” in divisional games, and it will get “really ugly.”

“You think the NFC East didn’t like each other before?” Norman said. “This year right here? There’s going to be a lot of fines and maybe some suspensions.”Norman hadn’t said much all offseason, but he made up for lost time.

The entire interview with Dunne is interesting, because Norman is one of the NFL’s more interesting players. Norman seems to feed off of creating tension with rival receivers, and he’s never one to hold his tongue. While most of the big talk seems to be hyperbolic to get himself going – this is a player who has said he pretends to be a different movie character every game day – it’s going to be remembered in Dallas and New York. Maybe that’s the point.

If you wondered what happened to Norman this offseason, or even if he planned to keep a lower profile, we got an emphatic answer.

Josh Norman and Dez Bryant had words during one meeting last season. (AP)
Josh Norman and Dez Bryant had words during one meeting last season. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!