Josh Norman Is Going To Be On Fox's NFL Pregame Show During The Season

PFT - Emily Kaplan of TheMMQB.com reports that the Redskins cornerback has signed a one-year deal with FOX to be part of the network’s NFL coverage this season. His deal calls for a minimum of 10 appearances that will be a mixture of live hits, pre-taped segments and an in-studio role during Washington’s bye week.

“I haven’t told Coach [Jay] Gruden or [defensive coordinator Joe] Barry yet, but I’ll give them a nice shout out on TV,” Norman said. “It’s not at all going to be a distraction. If you keep your focus on you and not anybody else, you’re going to be fine. I’m going to be me on Sunday.”

Norman isn’t the only active player with a side gig on television as Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall has been part of “Inside the NFL” on Showtime for a few years. Marshall’s segments are all taped during the week, while Norman may make appearances on the same day that the Redskins are playing in a game.

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First and foremost, the signing of Josh Norman is great. He’s unfairly taken a bit of scrutiny during camp because a video of him being burned by Pierre Garcon was going around social media. One of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a while, one play out of hundreds got spread around and people jumped all over it like “omg Norman sucks, he got burnt on one play”. Truly the most hive-mind, football commenter thing to hit the internet since Cam Newton’s dancing. People are just clamoring for anything related to the NFL to make a story out of, and that was the big one for a week. Of course nobody has shared the video of him locking down Garcon that the Skins tweeted today because that doesn’t build the drama.

Now that being said, the fact Josh Norman is following in Brandon Marshall’s shoes and getting a side gig during the season rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I’ve always said I think players should make their money while they can. No shame in trying to milk every last nickel out of being an athlete…but I cannot imagine many football players would be on pre game shows on game day. Yes, they will film segments during the week, but if things fall off, or the team is playing poorly, or he gives up a big play, that’s the first thing people will point to. It’s just giving free ammo for no reason. I also have no idea how he is going to be on the show live on game days, kinda weird, but I’m not going to make a huge deal out of it. As long as he shows up and plays well, that’s all we can really ask of him.

The weirdest part of this saga though is the fact he didn’t tell the coaches. Seems like that’s the sort of thing you should clear with the head coach first, no? Apparently he went above Gruden to someone higher up to get it cleared, who then didn’t relay that message to the coaching staff. Which is not cool. The lack of communication between players, upper management, and the coaches has a lot of work to do. He also lied and said that he told the coaches, and the coaches didn’t know at all. Seems like he wasn’t happy he got caught going above them.

So while I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled about Norman doing this extra-curricular TV shit during the season and on game days, it’s just part of the business now so there’s no point of getting riled up about it.