Buffalo Bills continue veteran route at cornerback with Josh Norman

The Buffalo Bills continue their experiment of using veteran, low-cost options to address the cornerback position with the signing of Josh Norman.

In the three years that Brandon Beane has been general manager of the Buffalo Bills, there has been one constant. That is that he will try and find production from veteran cornerbacks at low cost and low risk. The most recent addition is Josh Norman, who agreed to a deal on Monday according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

Over the years, the Bills have had some good and some bad moves to address this position. It started in 2018 when the Bills signed cornerback Vontae Davis. This was easily the worst move that Brandon Beane has made as general manger of the Bills.

Davis was signed as a free agent, similar to Josh Norman, before the official free agency period began. He had been released by the Indianapolis Colts and the Bills were able to get a deal done early in the offseason.

However, Davis didn’t last two full games as he retired at halftime of the Bills second game of the 2018 season.

The sting of Vontae Davis didn’t dissuade the Bills front office and they went the same route by signing Kevin Johnson this past offseason. The former first round pick of the Houston Texans had his share of injuries to start his career but was able to stay healthy while splitting time with Levi Wallace.

Johnson had one of his best seasons of his career with the Bills, including a seven tackle performance in the team’s playoff game against the Houston Texans.

It remains to be seen which group Josh Norman will fall into this season but this is a strategy that dates back to the Carolina Panthers. When Beane was working under Dave Gettleman he would see him go this route on numerous occassions when constructing his roster.

The Panthers were never known to have top tier cornerbacks or spend significant cap space on the position. In the years that McDermott and Beane were with the franchise they would have veterans like Charles Tillman and Charles Godfrey lining up at cornerback for them. These were players who were towards the end of their careers but could be serviceable while coming at a low cost.

This would allow the team to spend money at other key positions throughout the roster.

While it would have been nice to see the Buffalo Bills spend big and solidify the cornerback position with a Byron Jones or James Bradberry, it likely would have cost too much. However, with the signing of Josh Norman they could potentially get a starting cornerback at a fraction of the cost of those other corners.

It is clear that every signing does not work out utilizing this strategy, like Vontae Davis, but there is a history of this being successful more times than not and the Buffalo Bills hope that will be the case once again in 2020 with Josh Norman.