Saints were smart not to sign Josh Norman

The New Orleans Saints missed out on the Josh Norman sweepstakes, as they, along with the Washington Redskins, were the final two teams bidding for his services, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

AROUND COVER32

Twitter Tuesday: Brandon Boykin can only LOL at this point

Madden Monday: Rob Gronkowski’s case against the curse

2016 Preview: Ranking the 2016 MVP Candidates

Of course, Norman signed a five-year, $75 million deal with the Redskins, and the Saints missed out on adding a potentially-franchise changing corner. But here’s the catch: They are better off without him.

So why am I bringing this up? He talked with Sports Illustrated about his decision to go to the nation’s capital:

“In Carolina everything was defined. It was black and white and some gray. Here everything is gray—it’s more free. I can not just be in a scheme, but be a football player. I have a little more freedom. The shackles have been broken off, and man, I’m going to show them something they’ve never seen before.”

The Saints do not need Norman. First off, he has to prove he can lead a defense, as the Panthers strong pass-rush, led by Luke Kuechly, was the reason they dominated in 2015.

Also, Norman obviously has an ego problem, as evidenced by his rivalry with Josh Norman. The Saints had a cocky, loud-mouthed and physical corner in Brandon Browner, who did nothing but give the other team big plays.

The Saints are fine at cornerback with Delvin Breaux and a return of a hopefully healthy Keenan Lewis. They would have needed to make major restructures to several contracts to land Norman.

Should the key players in the Saints secondary stay healthy, their pass defense should be a lot better, and it will end up saving them $75 million in the process.

The post Saints were smart not to sign Josh Norman appeared first on Cover32.