The Carolina Panthers shockingly rescinded the franchise tag on CB Josh Norman, which puts him onto the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
So, should the Kansas City Chiefs sign him?
Sure, that would be great. One big problem: the Chiefs have no money for it. KC has less than a million bucks in cap space. The NFLPA has it at $782,809 in available cap space for the Chiefs, by far the fewest in the league.
The Chiefs can create some cap space by doing a new long-term contract with Eric Berry. His franchise tender currently counts $10.8 million against the cap but a long-term deal coupled with a signing bonus spread out over a few years would likely lower that cap number for the 2016 season.
The other problem is that Norman has played well in the Panthers zone scheme. The Chiefs ask their cornerbacks to play differently than that. Do the Chiefs have enough information on how he would play in their man coverage and feel comfortable projecting him there in the Chiefs defense? I'm not sure about that ... at least I'm not sure they'll pay $16 million a year to find out.
Josh Norman is a zone cover player. That limits his value. Ask the other corners in the league about him. They all say the same thing.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) April 21, 2016
The Chiefs didn't pay $10 million per year to Sean Smith, a corner they know and like. I would be surprised if they were interested in Norman at his price even if they could afford it.