Josh Norman says Dave Gettleman and New York Giants “winning” for Redskins
Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman recently threw shade at New York Giants’ general manager Dave Gettleman on the Rich Eisen Show.
The offseason feud between the New York Giants and Redskins doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon. Just days after former Giants’ safety Landon Collins aired his feelings towards the G-Men and claimed Dwayne Haskins was going “to tear up the Giants defense for the next five years,” Josh Norman followed suit with a few jabs at general manager Dave Gettleman.
When the topic of Gettleman was brought up, Norman had this to say on the Rich Eisen Show:
"I think we need to put him (Gettleman) on salary. I mean, they need to protect Dave Gettleman at all costs up in New York, for sure. All costs, because he’s winning for us, geez Louise. The more players you can get the better your chances (of winning a Super Bowl) are."
Norman is obviously referring to Gettleman’s controversial decisions that have led to the Washington Redskins landing several talented players.
There's a common through line that helped @TheHumble_21 @dh_simba7 and @J_No24 all end up with @Redskins and we asked the latter if he could figure it out: pic.twitter.com/8ndV4cCsYD
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) May 15, 2019
Norman’s beef with Gettleman started in 2016 when Gettleman, who was the Carolina Panther’s general manager at the time. Gettleman used the franchise tag on Norman, and then rescinded it, making the cornerback a free agent. The Washington Redskins would then go on to make Norman the highest-paid cornerback in football with a 5-year, $75 million contract.
More recently, this offseason the Redskins also broke the bank on safety Landon Collins, who’s messy breakup with the New York Giants was very similar to the Norman-Carolina split. After refusing to franchise tag Collins, who, like Norman in 2016 was looking for more money than what Gettleman was willing to pay, Gettleman and the Giants let their All-Pro safety walk right into the hands of their NFC East rival for the low price of $84 million over 6-years.
The final piece of the puzzle came during the NFL Draft, where Dave Gettleman and the New York Giants used their number six pick on Duke quarterback Daniel Jones, a player many thought would be available at #17 or even later in the draft. Regardless, the move seemed to spurn Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who ended up falling to the Skins with the 15th overall pick.
While there is no denying that a few of Gettleman’s moves have resulted in some more than solid players landing in D.C, it is a bit of a stretch to believe Haskins and Collins will cure the consistent dysfunction surrounding the team.
For starters, since Norman joined Washington in 2016, they have gone 22-25-1 and finished third in the NFC East each year. On top of that, Norman’s 72.2 overall grade last season ranked 49th at his position.
While playing with the Redskins, he has yet to reach his career-high 85.7 grade from 2015, per PFF. He surrendered eight touchdowns in 2018 alone, compared to the cumulative total of 13 he allowed from 2012 to 2017.
As for Landon Collins, while he was certainly a great player in his time with the G-Men, his 70.4 overall grade in 2018 was his lowest-graded season in the past three years, which also ranked 44th out of 101 qualifying safeties.
The injury-prone Collins has also struggled in pass coverage, which was one of the main reasons his contract with Washington seemed to exceed his value. It is yet to be seen if he will stay healthy and improve enough to return to his 2016 form, where he was a candidate for Defensive Player of the year.
Lastly, while the hype and excitement surrounding the selection of Dwayne Haskins can be expected, there’s reason to be cautious. The rookie quarterback will most likely be thrown in the fire pretty quickly with minimal offensive weapons in the passing game.
He will most likely be forced into the stating role before he’s ready, similar to Josh Rosen or Josh Allen last year. Not to say Haskins is incapable of this challenge, but it’s not very unlikely given the cards he has been dealt.
Norman’s comments seem to be a bit on the petty side and he is clearly still not over his Carolina Panthers breakup from three years ago. As much as the New York Giants have struggled in recent years, the Redskins are still 3-3 vs the G-Men since 2016 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2015. This of course makes the Super Bowl comment even more of a head scratcher
It seems as though Norman is trying his best to press buttons and take cheap shots at the general manager, who wouldn’t pay him what he thought he was worth back in 2016.
With the Odell Beckham Jr., Josh Norman drama series now a thing of the past, the next wave of tension between these two rivals seems to have arrived in the form of the Norman, Collins, and Haskins trio. At the least bit, it will without a doubt make what has been a pretty underwhelming divisional rivalry in recent years, now an exciting matchup to tune in for.
The two teams are set to meet on September 29th in the Meadowlands. Get your popcorn ready!