Josh Norman Calls Odell Beckham Jr. “Crazy,” Lashes Out At Deion Sanders

Super Bowl 50 is less than a week away and an old feud came to the forefront at the opening night media event. Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman relived his Week 15 showdown with Odell Beckham Jr and it’s clear he has not moved on from their bout.

“Shoot, that man’s crazy. You all saw it.”

OBJ was penalized three times during the game and later suspended one game. The NFL also fined Norman $26,000 for his role in the sparring between the two Pro Bowlers. While the NFL thought the New York Giants receiver was the aggressor, they certainly felt Norman was culpable as well.

Norman then went on to challenge Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders. Sanders said he reached out to Norman to try and broker a peace between he and OBJ, but he never heard back from the Panthers cornerback.

“I felt like you had taken his back on some stuff. You said something like if he was your son, you would’ve gave him props or something like, ‘Go out and do your thing,’” Norman said. “I know you said that. It feels like, OK, but this man is running 10 yards at me full speed like trying to take me out or something. That’s what you’re going to pat on the back and say, ‘Good job’?”
Sanders then complimented both Norman and Beckham on how they both handled the situation after the game had ended. Then Norman revealed for the first time that he asked coach Ron Rivera to take him out of the game.

“I told coach to take me out of the game, because I couldn’t be in there with that. But I understood the situation; I had to go through some things. I think coach let me go through that experience to not only make me better as a person but make me better as a football player.”

There was plenty of criticism of then-head coach Tom Coughlin for leaving Beckham on the field after he was noticeably out of control. Some analysts speculated at the time that that moment was the beginning of the end for Coughlin.