Why the Panthers dumped Josh Norman

If Josh Norman “doesn’t have leverage for a deal, what non-QB in this league does?” Everyone’s still scratching their head about the Panthers’ decision to just drop their superstar cornerback rather than try to negotiate with him. As shocking and shortsighted as the move seems, I can’t say I’m surprised about it.

Remember back before 2011, the lockout year, the most vocal owner when it came to player salaries was Jerry Richardson, who owns the Panthers. He told his fellow owners that they needed to take back the league. As THE hardliner in the CBA negotiations, he was reportedly “extremely condescending” to Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.

You can see the psychology at play here. The Panthers made the move largely to cutoff Norman’s expected holdout, and you can see why Richardson isn’t the type of owner who’s going to have a lot of patience for that.

Compounding the situation, Richardson and Norman had a mentor-mentee relationship.

“When your owner is your personal coach, you never want to let that guy down,” Norman said before the Super Bowl this year. It’s not hard to imagine Richardson being unable to separate the business relationship with the personal and feeling betrayed by the idea of Norman holding out.

That scenario requires some psychological extrapolation on our part, but it’s not far fetched, not as unusual as, say, rescinding the franchise tag on a player in mid-April.

WASHINGTON IN ON NORMAN: Washington is ready to make a push for Josh Norman. It’s been a long time since Dan Snyder opened the wallet and threw ungodly amounts of money at a free agent. The 49ers are thought to be the other team with a viable shot to sign Norman.

REMEMBER PRINCE’S SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW? Prince had the coolest, best Super Bowl halftime show ever. When Prince played the Super Bowl, it showed us that music and individuality can trump a thunderous rainstorm, the world’s largest and most powerful sports league or whatever else you want it to.

THE CHILLEST QB: Carson Wentz’s most important attribute may be his ability to chill. For a guy who’s about to be one of the top picks in the NFL Draft, Wentz doesn’t sound at all nervous about it.

BREAKING DOWN THE RUNNING BACKS: These charts explain the 2016 NFL Draft’s best running backs. Using advanced stats and NFL Combine data to profile the major running back prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft, from Ezekiel Elliott, Derrick Henry and Alex Collins to under-the-radar prospects like Deandre Washington.

NFL INSIDER’S GRADES THE DRAFT: Uncle Chaps grades the top prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft. The ultimate NFL insider offers his take on the eight best players in the draft this year.

WASHINGTON REMEMBERS: Adolphus Washington isn’t going to let a past mistake color his NFL future. The former Ohio State DT has been candid about his recent off-field issues and is ready to move on and contribute in the NFL.

TV STARS: Rob Gronkowski and Richard Sherman have a commercial. Beef jerky never sounded so awesome.

WHO WILL DRAFT CARDALE? Cardinals, Chargers meeting with QB Cardale Jones. Both teams would be good spots for Jones to learn the trade under veteran quarterbacks.

BAD RECEIVERS: NFC personnel director says draft’s WR class “a bad group.” It gets pretty thin after Treadwell and Doctson. Stephen White took a closer look at the top receivers in this draft, finding a pretty diverse group of players.

SAM WANTS OUT: Sam Bradford “likely” to ask out of Philadelphia. Is Sammy Sleeves trying to get out of Philly?

GOOD PLAYER, BAD AGENT? Reggie Nelson’s agent “problematic” during negotiations with Bengals. The Bengals and veteran safety Nelson have parted ways, but it seems there was a bit more underneath the surface as the team’s went back and forth in negotiations this offseason.

CHARGERS STADIUM PLANS: San Diego Chargers release current renderings of possible downtown stadium. But where’s the moat?

SCOUTING REPORTS: Stephen White’s player breakdowns for the 2016 NFL Draft. There are a lot of players in the draft! These are the names to know.