Per a source with knowledge of the deal, Norman will receive a $15 million signing bonus along with $36.5 million fully guaranteed, earned over the first two years. While that’s not $50 million, it’s a great payout for a deal signed on April 22.
The first three years are strong as well. Norman will make $20 million through the first year, $37 million (if he earns a $500,000 46-man roster bonus in 2017, as he likely will) through 2017, and $51 million through 2018.
That’s more than Norman would have gotten under two years of the franchise tag in Carolina, where his $13.95 million tender in 2016 would have become $16.74 million in 2017, for a total of $30.69 million over two seasons.
If Washington chooses not to keep Norman through three years at $51 million (an average of $17 million per year), he’ll exit with $18.5 million per year over two.