Redskins’ Josh Norman: ‘I’m very, very fortunate enough to be here’

ASHBURN — Josh Norman looked down and tugged at his burgundy Washington Redskins shirt, still trying to process the head-spinning change of scenery that he has endured over the last six days.

Since last Wednesday, when the Carolina Panthers rescinded the franchise tag they placed on Norman, to Friday, when the Redskins emptied their resources to court the All-Pro cornerback, then to Monday when it all began to sink in — Norman felt blindsided and deeply wanted, all in the course of 72 hours.

“It’s still surreal. It’s kind of crazy,” Norman said during an introductory press conference at Redskins Park. “Now I’m sitting up here talking to you guys on another team, another colors. It’s kind of still surreal, but I’m blessed. I’m very, very fortunate enough to be here with this magnitude of an organization. I can’t say enough great things about them. The history here is 84-years-plus, so this is the golden age of football when you come down here to the NFC East. So, I’m loving it right now.”

General manager Scot McCloughan — and the rest of the NFL, for that matter — was stunned a player of Norman’s caliber was suddenly available six weeks after free agency began on March 9. It was a dash to get to the 28-year-old cornerback and the Redskins got there first, affording them the opportunity to make their best pitch for Norman to join them.

“How long did it take to get to him? Ten minutes,” McCloughan said. “Because we knew — and I don’t want to mention the amount of teams that were involved, but it was a lot — so we knew we had to get him right away and just get him on an airplane. And, that’s what we did.

“We were excited. He’s a good football player. He’s a good person. I followed him through college, I followed him through the league. He brings a sort of chemistry and culture that I’m looking for and we’re looking for. It’s a position that’s hard to find. Like I said, he’s going to help us win games and that’s the bottom line — this organization is about making us better each day, and he made us better.”

It was reported that the San Francisco 49ers were one of the teams making a serious push to sign Norman, but they backed out. The New Orleans Saints, despite having limited salary cap space, also emerged late as a serious contender, and Norman said it was between the Redskins and Saints. That said, it was hardly close.

From the moment Redskins president Bruce Allen sent Norman a picture of a No. 24 jersey, to Norman and his family’s arrival in Washington on owner Dan Snyder’s private airplane, Redskins One, on Friday, it felt like the right fit.

“It wasn’t so much my decision, it was a family decision as well, because, shoot, once I got on that plane, they didn’t let me out the building,” Norman said. “I went around and I asked all of my brothers, my mom and pop, it was either here or New Orleans. Each and every one of them gave me my spiel, gave them their spiel, the pros and the cons — we weighed that — and they started to speak and I said, ’OK, N.O.?’ Maybe one or two raised their hand.

“Then I said, ’Redskins?’ I don’t know what the president did, the owner and the GM, but everybody raised their hand and I looked at it like, ’Well, here we go. This is done, sealed, signed and delivered me over.’ So, I was here. I loved it every step of the way. Every time I stepped in the building, it was like a family feel. It was welcoming, and their hospitality, it just sparked into my family and that’s kind of how I got here, and I’m so blessed and fortunate enough to be a Washington Redskin.”

Before the excitement, Norman had to come to grips with the shrewdness of the Panthers’ decision to ditch him — and he had to do it fast. Norman, who was yet to sign the Panthers’ contract tender and hoped to work out a long-term deal, found out that team was rescinding the tag on his way home from a family funeral. There was an instant feeling of shock as the Greenwood, South Carolina native realized he’d be leaving the area he’d known as his home.

He even acknowledged not wanting to get on the flight and visit the Redskins, but after a nudge from his recently hired agent, Ryan Williams, Norman realized he needed to pick himself up.

“[I] sat in my room for a while, was just starring at the wall,” Norman said. “I really didn’t want to be around nobody or deal with anything. I was trying to deal with it in my own way. When you play for somebody and been there for 28 years of your life and just kind of by night get snatched up out of there, it’s kind of a shaken feeling. It’s kind of shaking the foundations of what you know and your normal every day [routine] going throughout life. Now there’s a ram in the bush, and in that ram, God saw it for me to come up here to the Washington Redskins and be here because somebody valued me.

“And, I’m not in my comfort zone, but how can you grow if you’re not in your comfort zone? So, I took that pledge and I decided I was going to do something great and magnificent here, and bring everything that I have got and give it to these guys because this fan base is so strong. They’re looking for a championship here and that’s all I’m going to bring them, man — 110 percent, full-out effort and whatever I can’t do I’m going to ask and see if I can help them. They believed in me and I’m going to give everything back to them.”

It was a wonderful feeling for Norman — a walk-on at Coastal Carolina and fifth-round draft pick — to be sought, an experience he never had as talent evaluators and teams flocked to the top-tier prospects.

It felt good to be courted by a team that made him feel like it truly believed in him, a team that he feels is on the cusp of greatness after a 9-7 season.

Now, Norman is eager to return that favor and pay it forward. Though Norman’s arrival in Washington greatly changes the Redskins’ secondary and improves their defense, it’s not enough for him. He wants to prove it was worth pulling out all the stops, worth the $36.5 million he’s guaranteed in his first two seasons.

“I carried a big bag with me when I came up here,” Norman said, speaking metaphorically. “I’ve still got that bag with me and it’s on the back with me now. You can’t see it, but when I step in between them white lines, I’m going to drop it. When you see it, it’s going to be pretty, pretty heavy, and I can’t wait until that time comes.”