CalamityX12 wrote:Didn't realize his age either....
Not jumping up and down for him TBH... yes we have the money but are we going to invest that into Norman? If he's on Revis level, sure but are they in the same league?
I don't feel like Norman gives you the same scheme diversity and the same number of options and situations as a guy like Revis does. Revis does not need as many constants and the same level of talent around him quite like Norman does right now IMO.
If you're expecting to wait around to find somebody who can do what Revis has been able to do for you, you're probably going to be waiting a long time because a Revis type rarely comes around. Also, what are the chances a Revis type will be or are interested in you when they do come around? That's a big thing to always remember - just how difficult it is to get a guy with a level of talent anywhere in the ballpark of that when they are available only in free agency with many other teams pursuing them and they actually have an interest in you.
And then when, by all accounts from what I've seen, they match up personality wise with what most teams would like to have out of an expensive addition? That's another big plus for him, too, IMO.
So do you try to get the guy, pay him what I think will be somewhat similarly to a Revis, but have to understand you probably won't get the same sort of schematic options that the best in the game can give you but ultimately ends up in the same ballpark financially of what the best gives you.
What complicates matters obviously is the age thing, too. I think it's pretty safe to say that he'll be coming off his peak by the time the team could be ready to make another great run again if you're playing out a best case scenario with everybody else.
As fans we don't have to worry nearly as much as real coaches do about how you develop all of your players and the affect their make ups all have on each other from a day-to-day operation. Too often the term "veteran leadership" gets thrown around too loosely and the affect it can have on a locker room can be misunderstood and sometimes over rated from a collective perspective so I don't want to make it sound like adding a Norman is absolutely guaranteed to have a huge affect on the other guys or to over rate what he COULD bring to you on that front.
However, a player's affect on everybody else from a day-to-day perspective and how he communicates with a guy on the field is something that does need to be considered and this is an area where, by all accounts again, I think Norman could help certain guys if other things line up with your own guys, too. Only a coach or personnel man who is in tune with the rest of his guys can determine just how much a guy like him could factor in to the development of your team.
That's some of what makes it so hard if he has a serious interest in SF IMO because it's such a difficult position to acquire a top level talent and everything that goes with it.
In the end, if it were me in charge, I think it would depend on the type of contract structure you're looking at and getting comfortable with the fact that you probably aren't getting a guy that has the same level of diversity scheme wise and you won't have the same number of options with him and quite possibly the same consistency on the field with him like you might have with some of the best ones to do it in recent times.
I really don't have a huge problem giving out big money to a free agent with his overall make up. As I've said, I am in the boat that does not feel like he is AS good as a lot of people do but realizing just how hard it is to get a top level talent at that position who is actually interested in you I could be OK with a potential signing IF I was convinced he lines up with what you want to do in the short term and the fact that you aren't going to be too hamstrung by his contract by the time your window could begin to open up.
(Keep in mind that I think the chances of the window opening up as quickly as it could is small with the current structure in place so honestly it probably isn't going to come down to will he be worth it to you when the window opens and he is on the decline but I've been wrong so many times before and you can't really think like that too much if you're in the situation yourself).
