Nobody with any grain of sense actually though the Broncos "are totally going to get smoked" in the Super Bowl. You could reasonably predict the Panthers would win, OK. But, that they "didn't deserve to be there" and "it's too bad the wrong team won [the AFC Championship]" like Maller said. That's just imbecilic.
I don't think anybody really believes that Malik Jackson is a great player. Good, yes. But, worth $15M a year?
David Bruton? Omar Bolden? They were backups and special teams aces. How is that key losses? You don't see the same pundits ripping the Panthers because they lost one of their 2 best defenders in Josh Norman.
The Broncos haven't lost anybody close to as important as Norman. That would be as bad as if the team lost Aquib Talib or Chris Harris.Norman, who's since signed a $75 million contract with the Washington Redskins, has spoken about the Panthers rescinding his franchise tag. Carolina, however, hasn't been overly expressive about the abrupt about-face from their former star cornerback.
Ron Rivera is setting that straight. Kind of.
In an interview with the MMQB's Jenny Vrentas, Rivera spoke about why things came to an end the way they did with Norman. His explanation: the team wanted to set all of its affairs in order before training camp, and couldn't come to terms with Norman before that deadline.
"We were at an impasse," Rivera said. "Things weren't happening, and the one thing we didn't want to do is go into training camp not knowing. I think that was part of the decision."
If that's truly why the Panthers cut bait as fast as they did with Norman, well, Panthers fans should probably be pissed. Because the logic doesn't hold up. At all.
We preemptively cut ties with one of our defensive staples--who happens to be one of the most sought after commodities in the modern NFL: a competent, if not dominant, pass protector--because we didn't want a short-term distraction. Or something.
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