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Josh Norman has been a pretty big disappointment since joining the Washington Redskins in 2016, as the cornerback has been unable to reach the level of play he demonstrated while with the Carolina Panthers.
However, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden loves having Norman on the team, saying he makes the Redskins better:
“I'm great with Josh,” Gruden told reporters on Thursday, per Jordan Dajani of 247 Sports. “Josh is an excellent football player and he makes our football team better and that's all I care about really. When he's here in the secondary, we're better. He's a physical corner, he created turnovers last year for us and he's a good player.”
Norman and Gruden have not exactly had the best relationship over the year, so Gruden's vote of confidence is certainly significant.
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“We're going to have some issues from time to time where we don't see eye to eye but he's got to understand that I'm the head coach and what I say goes. Not everybody believes that all the time but that's usually the case — especially him,” Gruden said smiling. “I like Josh, I like where he's at, wish he would have been here at OTAs but those are voluntary, but he's here — the last couple of days you can see what type of difference he makes, had two picks in two days, so we need Josh, we like Josh a lot. He's a great competitor.”
Washington signed Norman to a five-year, $75 million deal back in 2016.
He is coming off of a 2018 campaign in which he played all 16 games and registered 64 tackles, three interceptions, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and nine passes defended.
The 31-year-old has not made a Pro Bowl since signing with the Redskins. Back in 2015, his final year with the Panthers, Norman made a Pro Bowl and earned a First-Team All-Pro selection.
