Redskins Penalized 36 million by the NFL

[greg683x]

Skins fans here in DC are flipping out about this.

After making the trade for RGIII, one thing that helped most skins fans and probably management cope with giving up 3 picks, is that we had 40 million in cap space available to surround Griffin with good talent.

Well that all got ripped away.  The skins got penalized 36 million by the league for front loading contracts in an uncapped year.  This apparently isnt a violation of any kind of the rule the NFL has ever had in place, but it was due to complaints from other execs around the league.

Unless I'm missing something, this is completely ridiculous.  Both the redskins and the cowboys were penalized for this, but there wasnt a rule that was violated.  Sounds like they took advantage of a loop hole and everyone else has sour grapes??  In the NBA when stuff like this happens, they make a rule after the loop hole is found, kinda like when we signed Gary Payton back from the Hawks years ago a day after we traded him.

Maybe I'm just an upset fan, but this seems really shady to me.  I hope the skins and the cowboys try and appeal somehow.....and apparently they did this to try and help unload Albert Haynesworths contract....boy hes the gift that just keeps on giving.

[GreenFaith1819]

WOW.

That sounds crazy......man, just as soon as there's hope in WAS, THIS happens...

I certainly do hope that WAS (and DAL) appeals.

[greg683x]

WOW.

That sounds crazy......man, just as soon as there's hope in WAS, THIS happens...

I certainly do hope that WAS (and DAL) appeals.

to steal a quote from someone else, only Roger Goodell could being the Redskins and the Cowboys together.  Dallas penalty isnt nearly as devastating for them though, this completely shoots us in the foot.....with a 12 gauge

[lantinm]

Skins fans here in DC are flipping out about this.

After making the trade for RGIII, one thing that helped most skins fans and probably management cope with giving up 3 picks, is that we had 40 million in cap space available to surround Griffin with good talent.

Well that all got ripped away.  The skins got penalized 36 million by the league for front loading contracts in an uncapped year.  This apparently isnt a violation of any kind of the rule the NFL has ever had in place, but it was due to complaints from other execs around the league.

Unless I'm missing something, this is completely ridiculous.  Both the redskins and the cowboys were penalized for this, but there wasnt a rule that was violated.  Sounds like they took advantage of a loop hole and everyone else has sour grapes??  In the NBA when stuff like this happens, they make a rule after the loop hole is found, kinda like when we signed Gary Payton back from the Hawks years ago a day after we traded him.

Maybe I'm just an upset fan, but this seems really shady to me.  I hope the skins and the cowboys try and appeal somehow.....and apparently they did this to try and help unload Albert Haynesworths contract....boy hes the gift that just keeps on giving.

I've been a die-hard Skins fan since 83', and I'm completely PO'd over this.  We finally land the franchise QB that we've longed for, and just when we are about ready to add some weapons around him, they strip us of our cap space.  I really hope that both the Cowboys and Skins appeal, because this is complete BS.  And FWIW, Goodell is a complete clown.

[Change]

That's news to me. So I checked twitter

Adam Schefter
‏ @AdamSchefter

Cowboys lose $10 million in cap space, Redskins lose $36 million in space. Can split it over 2012 and 2013 any way they want. More at ESPN.

The league didn't fine them $36million. They stripped their cap money. Redskins Owner will actually save $36million from the ruling.

[greg683x]

Skins fans here in DC are flipping out about this.

After making the trade for RGIII, one thing that helped most skins fans and probably management cope with giving up 3 picks, is that we had 40 million in cap space available to surround Griffin with good talent.

Well that all got ripped away.  The skins got penalized 36 million by the league for front loading contracts in an uncapped year.  This apparently isnt a violation of any kind of the rule the NFL has ever had in place, but it was due to complaints from other execs around the league.

Unless I'm missing something, this is completely ridiculous.  Both the redskins and the cowboys were penalized for this, but there wasnt a rule that was violated.  Sounds like they took advantage of a loop hole and everyone else has sour grapes??  In the NBA when stuff like this happens, they make a rule after the loop hole is found, kinda like when we signed Gary Payton back from the Hawks years ago a day after we traded him.

Maybe I'm just an upset fan, but this seems really shady to me.  I hope the skins and the cowboys try and appeal somehow.....and apparently they did this to try and help unload Albert Haynesworths contract....boy hes the gift that just keeps on giving.

I've been a die-hard Skins fan since 83', and I'm completely PO'd over this.  We finally land the franchise QB that we've longed for, and just when we are about ready to add some weapons around him, they strip us of our cap space.  I really hope that both the Cowboys and Skins appeal, because this is complete BS.  And FWIW, Goodell is a complete clown.

well hold the phone, check out this quote that was pulled up.

"As I’ve previously written, given the uncertainty of what 2011 holds, clubs who take advantage of the uncapped year by incurring high team salaries in 2010 run the risk of possibly being penalized in 2011 as part of a new salary cap and CBA. Clearly, this is a risk the Redskins are willing to take — or perhaps they know something the rest of us don’t."

Dan Snyders reign of terror continues.  He makes Peter Angelos look like Wyc Grousbeck.  Though I bet Bruce Allen is more to blame for this.

I'm still irritated by the league and Goodell.  There is no written rule about this, and no penalty was ever specified.  The redskins should know better though, this has gotta cement them as thee most boneheaded, poorly run franchise in all of sports.

[Donoghus]

I'm having a tough time to determine which way I stand on this.

Part of me thinks that its fair.  It sounds like the Redskins, Cowboys, Saints, and Raiders rather egregiously frontloaded the base salaries of players to hit during the uncapped year, thus creating all this cap space for this year.  This coming after the league warned teams about this very practice ahead of time.  Essentially defying league mandate.  In a way, its salary cap circumvention which has been a problem in the past for the league.

On the other hand the league, itself, created an uncapped year and these four teams took advantage of it by paying large base salaries in a year where it wouldn't matter.  Good business, in a sense.   Also, it sounds like a warning was issued, not an actual rule was set.  Then you have to wonder if the 28 teams that did sign players to contracts in the uncapped year were guilty of some sort of collusion to keep the base salaries down when they could've clearly paid some more without salary cap ramifications.   I'm sure the NFLPA won't be thrilled by that. 

Right now, though, I have to think that if the league issued multiple warnings about this, why the heck would you go out and do that exact thing then unless you feel certain that the mandate violated some sort of law and wouldn't hold up in court?  28 teams seemed to abide by it while 4 did not. 

[greg683x]

That's news to me. So I checked twitter

Adam Schefter
‏ @AdamSchefter

Cowboys lose $10 million in cap space, Redskins lose $36 million in space. Can split it over 2012 and 2013 any way they want. More at ESPN.

The league didn't fine them $36million. They stripped their cap money. Redskins Owner will actually save $36million from the ruling.

it's a 36 million dollar penalty, I dont think I ever said they were fined. 

and since when has Dan Snyder ever cared to save money?  You know [dang] well that money was gonna be spent.  This was gonna be money fans and management had gotten their hopes to be spent on weapons and protection for RG3

[greg683x]

I'm having a tough time to determine which way I stand on this.

Part of me thinks that its fair.  It sounds like the Redskins, Cowboys, Saints, and Raiders rather egregiously frontloaded the base salaries of players to hit during the uncapped year, thus creating all this cap space for this year.  This coming after the league warned teams about this very practice ahead of time.  Essentially defying league mandate.  In a way, its salary cap circumvention which has been a problem in the past for the league.

On the other hand the league, itself, created an uncapped year and these four teams took advantage of it by paying large base salaries in a year where it wouldn't matter.  Good business, in a sense.   Also, it sounds like a warning was issued, not an actual rule was set.  Then you have to wonder if the 28 teams that did sign players to contracts in the uncapped year were guilty of some sort of collusion to keep the base salaries down when they could've clearly paid some more without salary cap ramifications.   I'm sure the NFLPA won't be thrilled by that. 

Right now, though, I have to think that if the league issued multiple warnings about this, why the heck would you go out and do that exact thing then unless you feel certain that the mandate violated some sort of law and wouldn't hold up in court?  28 teams seemed to abide by it while 4 did not. 

well the skins are the ones who really ran with the whole idea, the cowboys penalty was pretty small, in comparison at least.

I cant speak for Dallas, but my only possible explanation for the redskins would be that maybe they just didnt think the penalty would be this big?  Maybe a slap on the wrist?

[Change]

That's news to me. So I checked twitter

Adam Schefter
‏ @AdamSchefter

Cowboys lose $10 million in cap space, Redskins lose $36 million in space. Can split it over 2012 and 2013 any way they want. More at ESPN.

The league didn't fine them $36million. They stripped their cap money. Redskins Owner will actually save $36million from the ruling.

it's a 36 million dollar penalty, I dont think I ever said they were fined. 

and since when has Dan Snyder ever cared to save money?  You know [dang] well that money was gonna be spent.  This was gonna be money fans and management had gotten their hopes to be spent on weapons and protection for RG3

Lets be real, Redskins aren't going to win SuperBowl in near future. One year with less cap not the end of the world. They'll have to make do for now, and spend frugally.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth #20]

Take solace in the fact now at least the Skins have an excuse for being incredibly terrible every year.

[Donoghus]

From PFT:  

Looks like the NFLPA actually agreed to these sanctions.  Last part is pretty interesting.

The NFL’s decision to remove salary cap space now from teams that dumped salary into the uncapped year of 2010 technically constitutes a violation of the labor deal with the players, because the CBA allowed teams to spend at will in the uncapped year, subject to specifically negotiated limits (e.g., six years to unrestricted free agency, the “Final Eight Plan”).

But it’s not a violation if the players agree to it.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the dynamics tell PFT that the NFLPA agreed to allow the NFL to take $10 million in cap space from the Cowboys and $36 million from the Redskins and redistribute the money to all other teams, except the Saints and Raiders.  On the surface, the decision of the players to permit money to be robbed from two rich teams that like to spend it and given in equal chunks to 28 other teams (including poor teams that like to hoard it) makes little sense.  With the Bengals already near $50 million in cap space, their $1.6 million share of the Cowboys/Redskins cap room quite possibly will be wasted.

So why did the union agree?  The sources explain that the NFL offered to help pump up the 2012 team-by-team salary cap in exchange for the union’s agreement to remove cap money from the Cowboys and Redskins.  One source said that, without the NFLPA’s agreement regarding the removal of cap room from the Cowboys and Redskins, the 2012 salary cap would have been in the range of $116 million per team.  (One source said that the number at one point was presented to the union as being a paltry $113.5 million.)  With the players agreeing to remove $46 million from the Cowboys and Redskins, the league agreed to a massaging of the salary and benefit numbers in order to get the 2012 salary cap up to $120.6 million.  (The recalculation also kicked in some additional money that otherwise would not have been devoted to salary and benefits for 2012.)

Thus, the union had no real option.  Without consenting to the reduction of the Redskins and Cowboys cap numbers, the unadjusted cap limit would have dropped, for the first time ever.

And with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith up for re-election this month, he quite possibly would not have been re-elected.

The delay in the release of the cap number directly arose from the Cowboys/Redskins conundrum.  Absent this issue, the cap number would have been disclosed well in advance of the start of the 2012 league year, instead of only two days before it.

Finally, as to the notion that the NFL approved the various contracts that took excessive advantage of the uncapped year in 2010, it’s critical to consider the broader context.  The union already was prepared to pounce on any possible evidence of collusion.  If the NFL had decided to reject contracts because teams were taking advantage of rules that the teams had every right to take advantage of, the NFLPA would have sued — and the case would have been bolstered by the fact that, on at least six occasions, the NFL had told the teams not to treat the uncapped year as a salary dump.  So the NFL approved the contracts and delayed punishment until a point where the league had leverage to persuade the union to agree to an effort to take action after the fact against teams that refused to collude.

[FrDrake]

This seems pretty bogus and big brother-y to me.  Free Agents and agents in the NFL must be p---ed since even with the apparent re-distribution of wealth you lose two of the NFL's biggest spenders from the market.  At least for this year.

I don't understand how you penalize teams for playing by the rules.  If you didn't want teams to engage in these types of shenanigans then maybe you shouldn't have allowed the NFL to operate under an uncapped season.

[OnyxCashew]

how can you punish somebody for doing something that wasn't against the rules at the time?  makes no sense. smh

[greg683x]

aaaaand heres Redskins GM Bruce Allens response to all these reports...

"The Washington Redskins have received no written documentation from the NFL concerning adjustments to the team salary cap in 2012 as reported in various media outlets. Every contract entered into by the club during the applicable periods complied with the 2010 and 2011 collective bargaining agreements and, in fact, were approved by the NFL commissioner's office. We look forward to free agency, the draft and the coming football season."

this could heat up pretty quick.  Dan Snyder loves him some lawsuits.