Bills to bring back veteran cornerback

Norman, who played for McDermott in Carolina and then Buffalo, was last with the Bills in 2020. He played nine games for McDermott’s team that season. The well-traveled veteran spent last season back with the Panthers.

Buffalo used a first-round pick on a cornerback in 2022, but Kaiir Elam has not seized a starting job. Elam was a healthy scratch over the Bills’ first four games. 

Even after White’s exit, the team has experience in place, rostering the likes of Dane Jackson, Siran Neal and Cameron Lewis. Elam, however, started against the Jaguars and played 80 defensive snaps in the narrow loss.

Norman saw action in two Panthers games last season. He is best known for his original stint in Charlotte and subsequent run in Washington. Norman parlayed a contract-year breakout — one that occurred during Carolina’s 15-1 season that ended in Super Bowl 50 — into a record-setting deal with Washington.

 The then-Bruce Allen-run team authorized a five-year, $75M extension for Norman shortly after the then-Dave Gettleman-led Panthers rescinded his franchise tag. Norman, though, did not live up to his Washington pact and ended up a 2020 cap casualty.

The Bills gave Norman a one-year, $6M deal in 2020, hoping he could lock down their other boundary post opposite White. Norman failed to do so, going down with a hamstring injury early in his tenure and only starting three Bills contests that year. 

Norman spent the 2021 season with the 49ers, a year that included one of the most unusual stat lines in recent NFL history. Norman is credited with forcing seven fumbles during his 2021 San Francisco one-off, which did include 14 starts. 

Not much free agency interest followed, however, leading him back to Carolina as a late-season pickup.