It’s safe to say that Josh Norman’s departure from Carolina wasn’t exactly smooth.
The Washington cornerback faces his former team for the first time on Monday night, and he admitted that he was a little bitter over how things went down when the team rescinded his franchise tag abruptly with the two sides locked in a stalemate over a long-term deal.
“It almost felt like I was stabbed the back in a way,” Norman said Thursday of GM Dave Gettelman’s decision to rescind the tag, via Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer. “But at the same time I’m not saying he probably meant to do that in that way. It’s just probably the business aspect of it and the money factor and what he believed.”
Norman looked at the experience as if he lost his job.
“I gave everything I could do and at the end of the day it seems as if I wasn’t worthy enough to be there,” Norman said. I got fired. I’m kind of taking it like that.”
As for how he’ll approach the game against his former teammates, he’s going to play hard, and he figures everyone knows it.
“You guys know me better than I think anyone else and you should know how this is going to go down,” Norman said. “I’m not going to sit there and lie down and die. I’m going to come out and fight. And I’m gonna fight somebody else to try to get a win if I have to.”
Norman has made clear that, while he doesn’t hold a grudge, he’s still a bit bitter over how things went down. Don’t be surprised if he has a big game on Monday.
