Quote:
Originally Posted by ethat001
The irony.
Okay, I like the Norman move, but.. it's hilarious looking back at old posts above...
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If you take it on its surface and don't do much critical thinking then yes I agree, there's irony.
But what in life is ever as simple as you make it here. McCloughan has long said that he does not believe in big dips into free agency but he will use it as a tool to fill needs. If you notice his modus operandi is to typically avoid big plays in the first few days of free agency because that's when B players get paid A money. But that's not to say he won't make a move in free agency, especially for premium positions like pass rusher and corner.
This is the second year in a row McCloughan has pounced on a player late in free agency let go by his team. Both play premium positions that are hard to find outside of the first round of a draft: pass rusher (Junior Galette) and corner (Norman). Jackson was a pre-McCloughan move but same MO.
Waiting until deep in free agency means you're avoiding wading into the market when every team is competing for the same B players. By this point half the teams in the league were eliminated from the Norman sweepstakes due to cap space.
And the reason you like the Norman move is because it's an A player getting paid A money. This isn't Janoris Jenkins or Byron Maxwell - B corners getting A money.
So it's not at all the same thing. And per the other thread discussing the cap implications of Norman, the numbers bear out that this signing will not hamper our ability to resign the players due to hit free agency in 2017. We're in no danger of losing Cousins, Reed, Galette, etc. due to cap constraints.
McCloughan will stand firm to his beliefs that you build primarily through the draft and you take care of your own. But he's also not going to turn down an opportunity to get a tall CB who has excelled in the same kind of zone coverage that Joe Barry runs. Especially when CB is a need. This doesn't signal some kind of change in philosophy, it's just a matter of jumping at an unexpected opportunity to buy an A player for a fair price.
Now he needs to be right - Norman needs to live up to it. But it's not at all the same thing as jumping into the mediocrity of day 1 free agency.