No. 1 Corner: CB Josh Norman
Josh Norman had a down year last season, but that wasn’t necessarily his fault. Norman dealt with a brutal rib injury early in the season, and that caused him to struggle at times. Now fully healthy, Norman should get a chance to continue his success.
Norman thrives as a big, physical corner who bodies up against all receivers and bumps them off their routes. In addition to this, Norman has very good ball skills and can make plays on any passes thrown to him. Even though he didn’t have any interceptions last season, Norman still did well for the most part and logged another nine pass defenses in 14 games. And in the previous three seasons, Norman combined for nine picks and a ridiculous 48 pass defenses.
While some point to the numerical decline of Norman as a problem, that’s not entirely the truth. As Pro Football Focus recently pointed out, Norman saw fewer throws his way per coverage snap than ever before, as demonstrated in this handy graphic.
Quarterbacks have avoiding throwing passes into Josh Norman's coverage more and more as his career has progressed. pic.twitter.com/J2PqpKqjCq
— PFF (@PFF) July 5, 2018
So, what exactly does this mean? Well, it means that Norman strikes fear into opposing quarterbacks. He locks down one side of the field as a result. And some may point to the fact that Bashaud Breeland was a bit easier to get by than Norman last season, but the fact remains. When given the choice of targeting Norman or someone else, opposing quarterbacks will tend to shy away from the top dog in the Redskins cornerback room.
It is worth noting that Norman’s contract value, and cap number, is continuing to go up over the next couple of years, so that may mean that it’s his final year with the Redskins. They may not be able to afford to keep him even if he’s still an above average player. He’s just going to be too expensive.
With that said, Norman is going to try and ball out this year in hopes of landing another big contract. He has the talent to do it and if he’s fully healthy, he could be a rock-solid No. 1 corner. It remains to be seen whether or not he will decline, but for now, there’s reason for optimism that Norman should continue to be a big part of the Redskins cornerback group.