The Carolina Panthers drafted James Bradberry and Daryl Worley on the same night, and neither was really expecting it.
A few days earlier, nobody was really expecting Carolina to be in the market for two starters at cornerback, let alone the possibility both would be rookies. But when general manager Dave Gettleman rescinded Josh Norman’s franchise tag offer and Norman signed with Washington as the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback, Gettleman’s priorities had to shift.
Who would replace Norman, the team’s shutdown corner in a Super Bowl season, for 2016? And who would start on the other side?
“It was a question mark,” coach Ron Rivera said, in a grand understatement.