Teams behaving badly: Cowboys and Redskins forced to give up salary cap space

[IndyColtsFan]

Doh! Reported on Schefter's Twitter account now, but I'm sure we'll hear it on SI and ESPN soon enough:

https://twitter.com/#!/AdamSchefter

Idiots. Goodell warned teams not to take advantage of the uncapped year or they'd pay for it.

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.

 

[ichy]

Lol, that's going to hurt the Redskins with all of the high draft picks they just gave up. They'd better hope that RGIII really does turn out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah, 36 million freaking dollars that they have to subtract over the next 2 years. That is going to be REALLY painful.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7677375/sources-dallas-cowboys-washington-redskins-lose-millions-cap-space

I wonder if this played at all into the Redskins trading 4 high picks for 1 - Fewer big 1st round draft contracts to deal with?

Then again, the rookie cap may have taken care of that problem. Who knows?

MotionMan

From the Peyton Manning Release Watch thread -- MotionMan supplied the link to the article on ESPN.

 

[ichy]

It's going to be fun watching all the face palming going on among Redskins fans.

 

[hclarkjr]

that more than likely will mean london fletcher will not get resigned either. painfull

 

[IndyColtsFan]

 

[Phokus]

I like your new avatar OP

 

[Krazy4Real]

ouch. that's a big hit.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It's going to be fun watching all the face palming going on among Redskins fans.

 

[ichy]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ft-picks-gone/2012/03/12/gIQAzEBZ7R_blog.html

With their first two picks in the 2012 NFL draft gone in Friday’s blockbuster trade to the St. Louis Rams, the Washington Redskins--who already figured to be active on the free agent market--are likely to step up their efforts to add the players critical to improving this season.

The addition of an elite rookie quarterback--most likely Baylor’s Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III--and $40 million to spend under the NFL’s $120.6 million salary cap should help their chances of landing a top wide receiver, a right tackle, a left guard and perhaps a cornerback and a safety when free agency opens at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Not anymore!

 

[MotF Bane]

"they prefer, with $1.6 million each going to the other 28 NFL teams, the sources said."

So does that increase the other 28 teams cap by 1.6 million?

 

[rcpratt]

"they prefer, with $1.6 million each going to the other 28 NFL teams, the sources said."

So does that increase the other 28 teams cap by 1.6 million?

Yes. Thanks 'Skins!

 

[SunnyD]

According to ESPN, even if the Washington Foreskins take the entire 18m hit this year, they're still more than 18m under their cap. The Cowgirls... not so much.

IMHO, this is stupid. It was an uncapped year... boo-fuckin-hoo Goodell. So they abused it, they weren't obligated to NOT abuse it. Just goes to show you reinforce how retarded Roger Goodell is.

(That said I'm not a fan of either team, but still... Goodell is a fucking power-hungry retard.)

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Actually SunnyD, teams were warned no less than 6 times not to try to use the uncapped year to dump salaries in and if they did, they would pay for it down the line.

Also, it is a $36 million hit for the Skins and $10 million for the Cowboys. Apparently the Saints and Raiders both did it as well, but to a very minor degree so therefore, they don't get the added $1.6 million in cap space.

 

[Glitchny]

According to ESPN, even if the Washington Foreskins take the entire 18m hit this year, they're still more than 18m under their cap. The Cowgirls... not so much.

IMHO, this is stupid. It was an uncapped year... boo-fuckin-hoo Goodell. So they abused it, they weren't obligated to NOT abuse it. Just goes to show you reinforce how retarded Roger Goodell is.

(That said I'm not a fan of either team, but still... Goodell is a fucking power-hungry retard.)

Well the owners were warned on 6 separate occasions by the league to not do exactly what these two teams did.

 

[SunnyD]

Actually SunnyD, teams were warned no less than 6 times not to try to use the uncapped year to dump salaries in and if they did, they would pay for it down the line.

Also, it is a $36 million hit for the Skins and $10 million for the Cowboys. Apparently the Saints and Raiders both did it as well, but to a very minor degree so therefore, they don't get the added $1.6 million in cap space.

Still... it was an UNCAPPED YEAR. Goodell had no right to make such threats. Again, this is Goodell arbitrarily and unilaterally making rash decisions.

Well the owners were warned on 6 separate occasions by the league to not do exactly what these two teams did.

Never formally warned, as there was no contract nor no written mandate agreed to by the owners that teams could not go over cap. Re: Goodell is a power-hungry idiot.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Still... it was an UNCAPPED YEAR. Goodell had no right to make such threats. Again, this is Goodell arbitrarily and unilaterally making rash decisions.

Never formally warned, as there was no contract nor no written mandate agreed to by the owners that teams could not go over cap. Re: Goodell is a power-hungry idiot.

Warned 6 times in ownership meetings -- that is pretty formal:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...es-about-not-dumping-salary-in-uncapped-year/

If the owners disagreed with it, they had the power to overrule Goodell but they didn't.

And it makes perfect sense, too, because anyone could see that you'd have teams like the Cowboys abusing the uncapped year and it would give them an unfair advantage going forward.

 

[Glitchny]

Still... it was an UNCAPPED YEAR. Goodell had no right to make such threats. Again, this is Goodell arbitrarily and unilaterally making rash decisions.



Never formally warned, as there was no contract nor no written mandate agreed to by the owners that teams could not go over cap. Re: Goodell is a power-hungry idiot.

Goodell wasn't the only one behind the decision.

Prior to the uncapped year, the competition committee warned teams that punishment would be levied for taking advantage of the circumstances. The Redskins and Cowboys were the most egregious offenders, as they dumped huge base salaries to players such as DeAngelo Hall, Albert Haynesworth and Miles Austin into the 2010 season in order to get the big numbers in those deals off the books while there was no cap.

The competition committee would not give final approval of the new adjusted salary cap number for the 2012 season until this matter was taken care of. The union pushed to make sure the pool would not shrink, so it was decided that the savings from the Redskins' and Cowboys' infractions would go back in the pool, and be split among the 28 abiding teams.

So to not screw up the competitive balance of the league via manipulating the cap they did these fines.

FYI: The National Football League Competition Committee is a group of eight members chosen from the ranks of the NFL teams' head coaches and managers to oversee competition and suggest rule changes.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Goodell wasn't the only one behind the decision.

So to not screw up the competitive balance of the league via manipulating the cap they did these fines.

FYI: The National Football League Competition Committee is a group of eight members chosen from the ranks of the NFL teams' head coaches and managers to oversee competition and suggest rule changes.

Even better, and for more shits and giggles, check out the membership of this committee (especially the fifth guy down).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_competition_committee

 

[Blackjack200]

Actually SunnyD, teams were warned no less than 6 times not to try to use the uncapped year to dump salaries in and if they did, they would pay for it down the line.

Also, it is a $36 million hit for the Skins and $10 million for the Cowboys. Apparently the Saints and Raiders both did it as well, but to a very minor degree so therefore, they don't get the added $1.6 million in cap space.

Well the owners were warned on 6 separate occasions by the league to not do exactly what these two teams did.

I hate both teams; cowboys and redskins, but I still think this is bullshit. If you don't like the effect of an uncapped year, then don't have an uncapped year. This is a CBA that was agreed on by everyone.

A similar thing happened to the New Jersey Devils (NHL) a couple of years ago when they tried to sign Ilya Kovalchuk. gary bettman, the comissioner of the league, had made a number of nebulous comments about not liking front loaded contracts that allowed players to get a big payout upfront while easing the salary cap burden with a bunch of low paying years at the end of the contract when the player was in his late 30s or even 40s.

The Devils signed Kovalchuk to a huge, tremendously front loaded deal and bettman rejected it, twisted the union's arm to amend the CBA with more specific rules to put an end to these contracts, and finally approved a rehashed contract for Kovalchuk. Then he went ahead and punished the Devils with a huge fine and forfeiture of draft picks.

The fine, and the loss of draft picks, as painful as they are to me as a fan, do not compare in any way to the disgraceful suggestion that Lou Lamorello, The Devils's general manager, did anything wrong. Lamorello is one of the most respected men in hockey, he has been the Devils's GM for 25 years. The suggestion by bettman that the Kovalchuk contract was somehow fraudulent makes me sick. I will never forgive bettman for it.

So yeah, if Bettman or Goodell wanted certain guidelines to be followed that were not outlined in their respective leagues CBAs, it was their responsibility to negotiate amendments to those agreements. The fact that they punished teams who followed the letter of the law shows that they are liars and dishonorable.

Edit, just saw above that it was the competition comittee as well. That makes them scumbags too.

 

[benzylic]

Should have just restructured every contract on the team, and front loaded them all. Operate in the red for that year and go into the next season with every guy on the team carrying the league minimum salary. :sneaky: Google tells me league min for a 10+ year player is about 900,000 so with 53 guys on active roster about 48 million if they were all vets. Imagine going into free agency with 72 million in cap space.

 

[Glitchny]

Should have just restructured every contract on the team, and front loaded them all. Operate in the red for that year and go into the next season with every guy on the team carrying the league minimum salary. :sneaky: Google tells me league min for a 10+ year player is about 900,000 so with 53 guys on active roster about 48 million if they were all vets. Imagine going into free agency with 72 million in cap space.

Pretty sure this is exactly what the NFL and the Competition Committee was trying to avoid, which is why this happened.

 

[SunnyD]

I hate both teams; cowboys and redskins, but I still think this is bullshit. If you don't like the effect of an uncapped year, then don't have an uncapped year. This is a CBA that was agreed on by everyone.

Thank you.

I'm not saying that the the teams that did this aren't assholes for doing it when the majority of teams did the fair thing. What I am saying is would this be a non-issue if EVERY team took advantage of the uncapped year, warnings or not?

My point is that it was an UNCAPPED YEAR. Just like Blackjack said, if they didn't want this to happen, they shouldn't have had it in the CBA in the first place. The NFL should have used this as a learning experience rather than retroactively letting Goodell's ego win.

 

[marvdmartian]

Meh. The Cowboys should be penalized, every year, for retaining that idiot Romo (IMHO).