Josh Norman update – Jets, Giants, Patriots NFL free agency rumors

The sports world took a backseat to the entertainment world Thursday when music legend Prince passed away at the age of 57. Adam Schefter tried his darndestto steal some of the Twitter attention though when he listed eight teams that were expressing interest in the services of new free agent Josh Norman.

@AdamSchefter tweeted, “Teams expressing most interest in former Panthers CB Josh Norman so far include SF, Washington, Pittsburgh, Miami … Other teams that have expressed interest in CB Josh Norman include the Bucs, Jets, Bears and Titans.”

Obviously, Schefter’s sources are the best in the game, but several fan bases’ hopes were knocked down a few pegs later on Thursday.

ESPN New York writer Rich Cimini wrote, “The Jets placed a call to Josh Norman’s agent. Relax, they’re not planning to pursue the free-agent cornerback. The call was cursory in nature, just a routine check-in. Sure, the Jets could use a corner like Norman, but there’s a thing called the salary cap and they have only $3.9 M in cap room, per the NFLPA — and still no starting quarterback.”

Even though their teams weren’t on Schefter’s list, Giants and Patriots fans were obviously intrigued at the possibility of landing arguably the top cornerback in the game.

The problem for the Giants is that they’ve already spent big dollars in free agency this year – including at the cornerback position with Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Then there’s the whole Odell Beckham – Norman issue.

The problem for the Patriots is also salary cap related as Norman wants $15-16million per year and the Patriots currently have around $5.9 million in cap room. Norman hired a new agent, Ryan Williams of Athletes First, yesterday (according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport) so Norman’s asking price could actually increase.

BUUUUUUTTTTT (and there’s always a but with the Patriots), we have seen this dance before. The Pats are masters at clearing cap space and were able to land Darrelle Revis two years ago on what basically amounted to a one-year, $12 million deal. They had an option to bring him back at a whopping $20 million in 2015 but declined. Revis will earn $17 million in base salary this year with the Jets.