Josh Norman thought football was difficult.

Then he appeared on ”Dancing With the Stars.”

The Washington Redskins cornerback had some impressive performances with dance partner Sharna Burgess on the show in Los Angeles and each week took a red-eye back to the East Coast for the team’s offseason program. Norman and Burgess finished second to skater Adam Rippon and Jenna Johnson.

Norman was back on the field this week with a new appreciation for dancing and a fresh approach to his day job.

”My mindset is a bit different Leighton Vander Youth Esch Jersey ,” Norman said Wednesday. ”I can go further now than I thought I could and push myself to pretty much a new level, I feel, a new height. So now I look at things and I (used to) be like, `That’s hard.’ Nah, I don’t think so.”

Norman didn’t quite know what to expect out of ”Dancing With the Stars,” which included 12-hour days of learning, practicing, rehearsing and performing . Add in the cross-country flights and Norman was more fatigued than after a one-on-one showdown with Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

He approached the performances like NFL games, though, and was glad he took on the adventure that reminded him of theater class in college.

”You could be someone else,” Norman said. ”You could be different. Everybody is different in their own right Cheap Da'Ron Payne Jersey , and everybody work to a common goal. Part of it is just going out there amongst athletes and trying to best them all.”

Norman got a good laugh about going shirtless for dance routines because ”there’s a lot of cougars that like the shirt off” and knew voting was involved. Taking a temporary break from his pursuit of the Lombardi Trophy, Norman came away crushed that he didn’t help Burgess win the Mirrorball Trophy she has been trying for the past seven years.

”This was the year to break that curse and I wasn’t the one to do it and it’s just like, `Dang,”’ Norman said. ”It’s like a heart-throbbing gut-puncher that I couldn’t be the one for her to get over the hump.”

Norman was a winner to his teammates, a handful of whom traveled to L.A. to watch the finale Monday. Running back Chris Thompson was impressed by the dance moves and felt his teammate ”got cheated.”

”I never saw Josh as being a dancer, for one,” Thompson said. ”It was great. It was just cool just to see somebody doing something different.”

Coach Jay Gruden said he watched every episode and came away impressed with Norman’s rhythm, execution and willingness to balance dancing and football.

”The work that he put in to get ready for that show and also fly back out on red eyes and get here for practice or OTAs, I just really had a lot of admiration for what he did and what he accomplished because that’s not easy,” Gruden said. ”I thought he should’ve won the dang thing. I think he got ripped off, to be honest with you.”

Even in a losing effort Authentic Logan Woodside Jersey , Norman figures ”Dancing With the Stars” helped his physical and mental preparation, his footwork, posture and focus. Call it a journey of self-discovery.

”It taught me a lot about myself,” Norman said. ”I grew tremendously. I wouldn’t have wanted anything else from it than that.”

With the Redskins in the middle of organized team activities, Norman was hardly breaking a sweat Wednesday after what he had been through under the lights each week dancing.

”This is a cakewalk,” he said. ”This is like picking daisies.”

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New coach Matt Nagy looked out his window Tuesday morning and saw a group working in unison to create something bigger and better for the Chicago Bears.

He was impressed.

The construction workers laying the foundation for an expanded practice facility were putting on a clinic in teamwork.

"The communication of the guys who are building, pouring the concrete and the cement and people in the background talking," he said Tuesday. "How do you do this? How do you do that? That's what we're doing right now as a team."

The Bears are trying to build something bigger and better after finishing last in the NFC North four straight years.

General manager Ryan Pace fired John Fox after three seasons and replaced him with Nagy, hoping a coach with an offensive background will get the most out of quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

There's a growing buzz for a team coming off a 5-11 season. But there's also plenty of work to do, particularly for an offense learning a new system, and the job kicked into another gear with the start of a voluntary veteran minicamp on Tuesday.

For Nagy Marcedes Lewis Packers Jersey , it's his first shot as a head coach after 10 seasons working under Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He's trying to help lift a franchise with one playoff appearance in 11 years and nothing but .500 or losing records since 2012.

"Just very obsessive about being detailed and having us be detailed," defensive end Akiem Hicks said. "And watching his morning meetings, you always get a good feel for a coach with how he addresses the entire team, and he makes sure he hits all his points, he has his (index) cards out and making sure that he gets everybody in line and knowing what we've got for the day and stuff like that."

While a defense that ranked 10th overall last season has many of its top players back as well as coordinator Vic Fangio, the offense is adjusting to a new system. Trubisky's development could ultimately determine the fate of Pace and Nagy in Chicago. But there are other issues facing the Bears.

Though they signed free agent receiver Allen Robinson and gave Trubisky a new No. 1 target, depth at the position remains an issue. Robinson is working his way back after tearing his ACL in last year's opener with Jacksonville, and guard Kyle Long is recovering from ankle, shoulder and neck surgeries.

Neither player participated in team drills Tuesday. And Nagy had no timetable for when they will start.

Another issue is the mindset of running back Jordan Howard after Bears-related photos disappeared from his Instagram account a few weeks ago amid trade rumors. He sidestepped questions about that while insisting he has a future in Chicago and can be a productive player in Nagy's system despite his struggles catching passes.

"They told my agent they had no plans to trade me or anything like that," Howard said. "So that's comforting."

He said he "really wasn't hurt" by the rumors.

With more than 2,400 yards since the Bears took him in the fifth round in 2016 Youth San Francisco 49ers Jerseys , Howard has been one of Pace's most successful draft picks. He ran for 1,122 yards last season after finishing second in the NFL with 1,313 as a rookie.

But there's a perception his struggles in the passing game make him an odd fit in a system that demands the running backs catch the ball.

"I feel like I can fit in pretty much (any) offense," Howard said. "Yeah, I have had struggles receiving but anytime people doubt me, they just push me to do better and improve. That is definitely one thing I want to improve on."

Nagy also dismissed that idea, saying, "To sit there and say he doesn't fit this offense I don't think is very fair."

He said Howard "absolutely" will be a featured running back in 2018 and envisions him and Tarik Cohen once again forming a dynamic tandem.

As for the Instagram issue, Howard said there was "nothing to it" and wouldn't acknowledge removing Bears-related pictures. There were plenty on Tuesday.

"I don't know," he said. "You can go on there now and see if they're on there. I don't know."

NOTE: The Bears said defensive back Bryce Callahan signed his one-year restricted free agent tender.

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