Will Josh Norman Leave Washington Without a Deal With the Redskins?

You guys remember the drill, even though it has been a while.

When a top-rated free agent target used to arrive in Washington, he did not leave town without a deal in place. That was our thing. We were damn good at it, too. (As evidenced by all those championships during...uhhhh, wait...crap...)

So, Josh Norman will be wheels down in D.C. today, with Washington said to have "first crack" at him. Historically, this has meant Brinks money trucks got gassed up by the dozen to deliver obscene amounts of cash to a man that we would only pray would still care about playing football.

I know that just two days ago, I was lukewarm (at best) on the idea of signing Norman. Anyone that has read my ramblings over the last few months knows that I did, in fact, list one potential free agent as a guy I would favor signing. This is what I wrote back in January, in an article entitled "McLovin's Millions":

Josh Norman, the All-Pro corner for the Carolina Panthers, is set to hit unrestricted free agency. If you are going to break the bank on a player, an All-Pro corner is the one to do it on. I think Carolina has enough dough to keep him, but if Dan Snyder wanted to gas up the jet and bring him in for a visit, I would be okay with doing whatever it took to keep him from leaving without a deal. Imagine him and Odell Beckham facing off twice a year in the NFC East?!?!?! (source: ME)

For the love of God...did I actually write that? (SPOILER ALERT: I did)

If there is one person--one handsome and incredibly smart person--who I tend to agree with in this world, it is myself. That said, if there is one person whose disastrous, self-destructive, hygienically abhorrent ways are known most to me, it is Kevin Ewoldt...and also myself.

Damn...my own words come back to bite me in the ol' rear. It was true then, but that does make it true now? We would have to cut guys like Chris Culliver and Andre Roberts, right? I can live with that, I suppose. This would also hopefully pull Kirk Cousins to the table so the team could get a friendlier contract with the quarterback in place. Kirk strikes me as the kind of player who would get that. Would this push McLovin to the Kirk Cousins contract table though? Maybe he feels strongly about making Kirk play for his deal, as so many of you have stated. Maybe the Cousins contract is off limits to get the Norman deal done.

The truth is that the San Francisco 49ers have WAY more money to play with than we do. I see the Redskins playing the role of "market-setter" here. There is no way Norman's agent doesn't give the 49ers a chance to beat our offer, and logic suggests they can destroy our offer.

Until it happens, I am of the mind that it won't get done--because of this and because of the seeming ideological change that would be taking place (this would be a rather splashy move for McLovin, and he has been on record as suggesting this might not be the best way to build a roster).

Does any of this--or any of the other news in the last 24 hours--change your minds on this issue? Is anyone else as conflicted as I am here? This is a VERY GOOD PLAYER. It is a position of need. I have zero problem with the idea of paying a top cornerback the money he deserves, but this is buying at the top of the market.

It is such a copout, but I feel like I will be excited if we get him, and I feel like I will be relieved if we don't. How is that even possible?