Redskins Named As Defendants In NFLPA Collusion Lawsuit

Shortly after the Redskins had their appeal of the salary-cap penalties levied against them by the NFL denied, the NFLPA filed a collusion complaint against the NFL. In essence, "collusion" is also what the Redskins accused the NFL of in their appeal of the salary-cap penalties. Yet, Washington now finds itself named as a defendant in the suit filed by the NFLPA.

Rich Campbell of the Washington Times writes:

How's this for irony? The Redskins accused the NFL of collusion in their grievance challenging their $36 million salary cap penalty. But a day after that grievance was dismissed, the Redskins found themselves grouped among the defendants in a collusion lawsuit filed by the NFL Players Association against the league.

If you were unsure whether the NFLPA filed the suit to help the Redskins remedy their cap penalty, this should quash any doubt. The NFLPA is out to claim $3 billion in damages for players league-wide. Helping the Redskins restore their salary cap space is not the intent of the suit. The case of the Redskins' salary cap penalty simply served to elicit what the union believes is evidence of collusion.

For analysis of and reaction to the denied appeals and the collusion complaint, head over to Hogs Haven. For more news and notes from around pro football, visit SB Nation's NFL hub.

NFLPA Complaint Won't Benefit Redskins, Lawyer Says

The Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys were both hit with big-time salary cap penalties for violating the agreed upon salary cap by the rest of the NFL franchises, despite the fact that there was no salary cap to abide by. In essence this is collusion and that's exactly why the NFLPA has filed a complaint accusing the league of collusion, but the complaint won't benefit the Redskins or Cowboys.

Kessler on benefit 2 #Redskins, Cowboys: "We're representing the players.[They'll] have to speak for themselves with their own lawyers."

— John Keim (@john_keim) May 23, 2012

Jeff Kessler, the lawyer representing the NFLPA on the complaint, says that it's to recover lost salaries from the NFL players and union members, but it won't help the teams recover lost cap room. Both teams have already resolved their complaints with the NFL, however.

For analysis of and reaction to the denied appeals, head over to Hogs Haven for the Redskins and check out Blogging The Boys for the Cowboys. For more news and notes from around pro football, visit SB Nation's NFL hub.

Redskins Exceeded 'Secret Salary Cap' By $102 Million In 2010

NFLPA Files Collusion Complaint Against NFL, Owners

Not one day after an arbitrator denied the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys' appeal for their salary cap penalties, the NFL Players Association filed a collusion complaint against the league and team owners on Tuesday, claiming that the league had instituted a secret salary cap when the league was supposedly uncapped in 2010.

The complaint specifically alleges New York Giants owner John Mara as publicly confirmed that there was a secret salary cap when he addressed the cap penalties handed down to both the Cowboys and the Redskins.

What they did was in violation of the spirit of the salary cap. They attempted to take advantage of a one-year loophole ... full well knowing there would be consequences.

NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth had this to say in the complaint.

Our union recently learned that there was a secret salary cap agreement in an uncapped year. The complaint today is our effort to fulfill our duty to every NFL player. They deserve to know, above all, the facts and the truth about this conspiracy.

NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello took to twitter to denounce these claims by the NFLPA.

Regarding the NFLPA's latest complaint: The filing of these claims is prohibited by the Collective Bargaining Agreement and separately..more

— Greg Aiello (@gregaiello) May 23, 2012

.,by an agreement signed by the players' attorneys last August. The claims have absolutely no merit & we fully expect them to be dismissed

— Greg Aiello (@gregaiello) May 23, 2012

It remains to be seen what will come of this complaint, but this will be an issue that will be under the microscope in advance of the 2012 regular season.

For more news and notes from around pro football, visit SB Nation's NFL hub.

Redskins, Cowboys Issue Joint Statement On Arbitrator's Decision

In response to the decision made by an arbitrator to dismiss their challenge of the NFL's salary cap penalties assessed earlier this offseason, the Redskins and Cowboys issued the following joint statement.

Joint statement by the #Redskins and #Cowboys on the salary cap: ""We pursued our salary cap claim pursuant to the CBA...(more)

— Redskins (@Redskins) May 22, 2012

"and we respect and will abide by the arbitrator's decision to dismiss. We will continue to focus on our football teams and the 2012 season"

— Redskins (@Redskins) May 22, 2012

In other words, case closed. For what it's worth, the teams are likely on the right ethical and moral side here, but it seems likely that the NFLPA signing off on these penalties in agreement with the league is what doomed the case.

For analysis of and reaction to the denied appeals, head over to Hogs Haven for the Redskins and check out Blogging The Boys for the Cowboys. For more news and notes from around pro football, visit SB Nation's NFL hub.

Washington Redskins Have Salary Cap Penalty Appeal Denied By Arbitrator

An arbitrator denied the appeals of the salary-cap penalties handed to the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.

Redskins Salary Cap Case: Hearing Set To Begin On Thursday

The Washington Redskins are bringing their gripe with the NFL to their appeal office, and the case is scheduled for Thursday. But as Mark Maske of the Redskins Insider points out, Thursday is expected to be mostly procedural, and about whether or not the Redskins even have a case to argue.

Attorneys are scheduled to argue the case before Burbank without testimony from any witnesses on Thursday, according to several people familiar with the case. One of those people said Thursday’s hearing is likely to focus primarily on jurisdictional issues, specifically whether the Redskins and Cowboys have the right to bring such a case before Burbank given that the league and the NFL Players Association agreed to the salary cap reductions given to the teams.

So it doesn't seem like a decision will be made on Thursday, and the litigation is actually just getting underway. The Redskins feel as though they have a pretty good case, but the NFL seems confident that they will be victorious in their effort to thwart the Redskins and the Cowboys as well.

For more on this story and all things related to Washington Redskins football, please head over to Hogs Haven.

NFL Salary Cap Penalty: NFL Seeks Dismissal Of Redskins, Cowboys Challenge

The NFL is asking an arbitrator to dismiss the challenge against the league's salary cap penalties against the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys according to an article posted by Mark Maske of the Washington Post. The reason for asking for this dismissal is because since the salary cap was agreed upon by the Players Association, the teams shouldn't be able to challenge the ruling.

A hearing in this case is scheduled for May 10 and it is not yet apparent when arbitrator Stephen Burbank will rule on the request by the NFL. Burbank has jurisdiction to rule on items involving the salary cap. If he rules in favor of the NFL the Redskins and Cowboys could try to appeal his decision through an appeals court. By that time though they could find it hard to find salary cap relief in the courts.

It does appear on the early stages, that there are some that believe that Burbank will side with the NFL on this issue. Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com forwarded a quote from NFL Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jeff Pash.

Jeff Pash: I have a "high degree of confidence" nfl will be successful in cowboys/skins appeal

— gregg rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) April 20, 2012

There is always the chance that decisions could swing the other way when it comes to the courts, but the Redskins and Cowboys will exhaust every avenue they can.

For more on this story and all things related to Washington Redskins football, please head over to Hogs Haven.

NFL Salary Cap Penalty: Redskins Contracts Affected Franchise Tags, According To Report

The Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys will have a hearing on May 10 regarding the cap penalties the teams incurred prior to the start of NFL Free Agency. The two teams violated the "spirit" of no salary cap during the 2011 NFL season, according to the NFL. There were a couple of teams who were adversely effected by the contracts the two teams handed out.

The San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens were active in supporting the league's punishment of the Redskins and the Cowboys according to Albert Breer of NFL Network.

The Albert Haynesworth contract handed down by the Redskins was a big part of the reason the franchise tag for defensive tackles climbing from $7 million to $12.5 million. The Ravens then tagged defensive tackle Haloti Ngata for the $12.5 million. The Ravens wound up signing Ngata to a long term deal, but they were forced to carry that $12.5 million cap hit from July until September, which apparently limited their ability to sign other free agents.

That's just one example of the case being used against both the Redskins and the Cowboys.

For more on this story and all things related to Washington Redskins football, please head over to Hogs Haven.

NFL Salary Cap Penalty: Redskins Will Receive Hearing May 10

The Washington Redskins are set to receive a hearing from the NFL regarding the cap penalties they received right before the start of Free Agency. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the hearing will come in May and will be presided over by Special Master Stephen Burbank, as stipulated in the new CBA (and yes, that is his real title).

In case you forgot just how frustrating these charges were against the Redskins, here is a little refresher on the nature of the charges brought against them and the Dallas Cowboys.

The league contends that the Cowboys and Redskins violated the "spirit" of the salary cap during the uncapped year of 2010, even though the NFL approved all contracts submitted by the teams containing payments in 2010. The circumstances suggest that the NFL tried to impose restrictions on spending that didn’t exist in the labor deal, which would constitute collusion in the uncapped year.

It will be interesting to see how the NFL proceeds with these penalties if they are indeed ruled unfair, and how that would affect the rest of the league, which benefited from the penalties being assessed to the Redskins.

UPDATE: The NFL has confirmed that the appeal will be heard on May 10.

For more on this story and all things related to Washington Redskins football, please head over to Hogs Haven.

NFL Salary Cap Penalties: NFLPA May Be Hurting Their Future Negotiations With Cap Penalties

We are still awaiting the results of a grievance that the Redskins and Cowboys have filed against the NFL in regards to the salary cap penalties were both assessed, which makes the NFL Meetings in Florida a little awkward right now. As we know, the penalties were an agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association, but according to Andrew Brandt at National Football Post, it could come back to harm the NFLPA.

Interestingly, the penalties to the Cowboys and Redskins were part of a joint agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA. The union’s primary concerns were to ensure (1) no reduction in Cap room league-wide, and (2) the team Cap number would exceed-- if only barely -- the number from 2011 (it did, with a $120.6 million number compared to $120.375 in 2011).

The problem for the NFLPA is that, in their zeal to prop up the 2012 Cap number, the NFLPA have borrowed from the future. Thus, the Cap "spike" that some project in 2014 when the new television contracts activate may not materialize the way the union, players and agents are hoping.

The NFLPA is expecting a big spike in the salary cap in 2014 with a new television deal, but if the spike is artificially inflated for the two years before because of the penalties being redistributed for the other teams, then the rise won't be as much of a boon as it appears.

For more on this situation and all things Washington Redskins football, please head over to Hogs Haven.

Mike Shanahan On How Salary Cap Penalties Influenced Free Agency

Mike Shanahan met with the assembled media at the NFL Owners Meetings on Wednesday, and seeing as it was his first media availability in a while, he had an awful lot to catch up on. Let's start with the salary cap penalty that was issued to the Redskins, and the particularly bad timing of it. These quotes via Rich Campbell of the Washington Times.

Regarding the $36 million salary cap penalty imposed by the NFL, the Redskins "found out an hour before" the start of free agency on March 13, Shanahan said.

It also appears as thought the penalty prevented them from landing one of the players that was frequently linked to them. There were a lot of reports that the Redskins were close to a contract with Eddie Royal before he ended up in San Diego, and it seems like he might have been a salary cap casualty, even though he wasn't actually on the team.

The Redskins also targeted free-agent wide receiver Eddie Royal, who dined with Redskins’ brass early in free agency. Washington never had an agreement with him, Shanahan said, and Royal signed with San Diego. "You've got to make some tough decisions relative to the cap."

So that's one player that missed out on being part of the team because of the salary cap, or at least it sounds that way.

For more on these stories and all things relating to the Washington Redskins, please head over to Hogs Haven.

Redskins Salary Cap Penalty: Owners Vote 29-0 To Affirm Salary Cap Penalty, According To Report

In a tweet by CSN Washington's Rich Tandler, he has reported that the NFL Owners have voted near-unanimously to affirm the salary cap penalties levied by the NFL to the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

Report: NFL owners vote 29-0 in support of cap penalties bit.ly/HfkJnf

— Rich Tandler (@Rich_Tandler) March 27, 2012

The article linked in Tandler's tweet says that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers abstained from voting on the matter. It is now likely because of this result that the Redskins and Cowboys go forward with arbitration with the NFL in regards to the penalties.

The Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys still contend that they did nothing wrong in the way that they structured the contracts during the year without the salary cap in 2010. Given the fact that these penalties were done unanimously against both teams, that could be an issue that comes up in arbitration.

For more Redskins coverage, visit Hogs Haven.

NFL Owners Affirm Cap Penalties For Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys; NFL Issues Statement

Washington Redskins GM Bruce Allen and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys made their case to the owners on Monday concerning their teams' salary cap penalties leveled by the NFL. Owners voted by a show of hands to affirm those sanctions, according to Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal. The NFL also released a statement concerning the grievance filed by those two teams on Monday.

According to Albert Breer of the NFL Network, Allen and Jones met with owners divided into groups of two. After that, the other 30 teams met to discuss the matter and vote before it heads to arbitration. A date for arbitration has yet to be established, according to the league's statement.

The complete statement from the NFL reads:

The Cowboys and Redskins have challenged the NFL's recent agreement with the NFL Players Association to set the salary cap for 2012 and to reallocate certain salary cap room from Dallas and Washington to 28 other clubs.

The reallocation aspect of the agreement is intended to address competitive issues arising from contract practices by those clubs in the 2010 League Year intended to avoid avoid certain salary cap charges in 2011 and later years.

Under the agreement with the NFLPA, the two clubs will be charged at total of $46 million in cap room in the 2012 and 2013 seasons ($18 million per year for Washington; $5 million per year for Dallas). That room, instead, will be reallocated to 28 other clubs in the 2012 or 2013 season as determined by the Club. (The New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders, which engaged in similar contract practices in 2010 at a far different level, will not receive any additional cap room. Those two clubs have not challenged the agreement with the NFLPA.)

The agreement will promote competitive balance without reducing the salary cap or player spending on a league-wide basis.

The arbitration will be heard by Professor Stephen Burbank of the University of Pennsylvania. No date has been set for a hearing. The clubs were advised of the proceeding at today's league meeting. The NFL and Clubs will have no further comment at this time.

For more Redskins coverage, visit Hogs Haven.

New York Giants Owner Feels Penalties Levied Against Washington 'Were Proper'

Washington Redskins And Dallas Cowboys File Grievance Against NFL and NFLPA, According To Reports

The Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys are preparing to protest the NFL's taking away of salary cap space for both teams according to Mike Florio Pro Football Talk.

The Redskins saw $36 million in cap space taken away by the NFL for the 2012 season while the Cowboys were penalized $10 million in cap space after the two were found to be violating spending rulles during the infamous uncapped season of 2010.

The fact that the teams have included the NFLPA in their grievance is a very important matter as Florio reports:

"The fact that the Cowboys and Redskins included the union in the grievance triggered the procedure that allows the teams to avoid a situation in which Commissioner Goodell resolves the matter. Instead, a true outsider will determine whether the action complied with the terms and/or the spirit of the labor deal."

All of the NFL teams will be briefed on the matter during the team meetings in Florida this week.

For more on the Washington Redskins, visit Hogs Haven.

Lorenzo Alexander Says Cap Penalty Hurting Efforts To Re-Sign London Fletcher

Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander recently spoke with Alex Marvez of Fox Sports. In that conversation, Alexander claimed that the NFL's salary cap penalty has hindered efforts by the Redskins to re-sign fellow linebacker London Fletcher.

The end result in this could be that both players may be off the team in 2013. Both Alexander and Fletcher are highly regarded players on the Redskins. Alexander is the special teams captain and Fletcher has been a leader on the Redskins defense since he was signed in 2007.

One of the reasons why this is such a problem for the Redskins is because Fletcher will probably demand much of his money up front for his deal. The Redskins may have to take a hit on cap space in the future to keep both players on the team.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.

Bruce Allen Tells Fan Redskins, Cowboys Will Fight Salary Cap Penalty

Redskins Salary Cap: Redskins Could Go To Arbitration For Salary Cap Case, According To Report

The Washington Redskins could be heading towards arbitration to try and settle the salary cap punishment by the NFL, according to Washington Post Redskins insider Mark Maske.

People with knowledge of the case have said the Redskins might contest the league's ruling, either via an appeal or a legal challenge. The Redskins have not said what, if anything, they will do, and one person familiar with the case said last week that the Cowboys were unlikely to join the Redskins in a legal challenge. Both teams have denied wrongdoing.

It is not clear, however, whether the Cowboys would join the Redskins in a proceeding before an arbitrator, which might generate less animosity among other team owners than a full-scale court challenge.

While it is apparent that the Redskins and the Cowboys weren't the only teams that were caught doing the same thing the Redskins do want to avoid causing more animosity towards themselves. It still remains to be seen if the Redskins will go this alone or the Cowboys will join them.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.

Redskins Salary Cap: Redskins, Cowboys Must Accept Half Their Cap Reductions In 2012 Offseason

A new wrinkle has emerged in the Case of the Missing Cap Room (with Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones playing the roles of the Hardy Boys). The NFL is reportedly insisting that the penalized teams must absorb at least half of the de jure cap hit this coming season.

A league source tells PFT that the teams will be required to absorb at least half of the cap consequences in 2012. For the Cowboys, it means $5 million in lost cap room. For the Redskins, $18 million disappears.

They can each choose to absorb more of the cap penalty in 2012, or they can push all of the other half to 2013.

You will recall this report from yesterday:

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.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 12, 2012

But of course, that report came out before the Redskins and Cowboys essentially flipped the NFL double middle fingers by claiming compliance in a pair of statements released Monday night. Would you really be surprised if the NFL switched up the punishment on both teams after those statements last night?

Anyway, Rich Campbell has the latest real-time math on the Redskins cap.

A source confirms the @ESPNRadio980 report that the #Redskins had $12.5 million in cap space before they released Atogwe and Sellers.

— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) March 13, 2012

Those entirely expected cuts have bumped up the Redskins cap space to roughly $17 million, which certainly isn't bad, but certainly isn't as good as it could have been.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.

PHOTO: At Least 8 Other Teams Did What Redskins And Cowboys Did In 2010

NFL Salary Cap Ruling Against Redskins Creates Many Questions

Who deserves the blame for Monday's ruling? Can we just make Albert Haynesworth pay it? We'll address these questions and more as we dig deeper into the Redskins' supposed violation of the NFL salary cap.

Bruce Allen: Redskins Have Not Been Informed Of Salary Cap Penalty

The following statement was issued by Redskins Executive Vice President and General Manager Bruce Allen Monday evening.

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.

We can't say that's the tack we expected from the Redskins. It certainly seems that we haven't heard the last of this punishment, which might now become a dispute.

For the record, here's the statement from the Cowboys, via Rich Tandler:

The Dallas Cowboys were in compliance with all league salary cap rules during the uncapped year. We look forward to the start of the free agency period where our commitment to improving our team remains unchanged.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.

Washington Redskins' Salary Cap Punishment Really Isn't About The Salary Cap

The Redskins and Cowboys have been made the sacrificial lambs in the name of an idea that only serves to reward cap management incompetence.

NFL Releases Statement On Redskins And Cowboys Punishment

About three hours after word first came out that the NFL had taken away $36 million in cap space from the Washington Redskins and $10 million in cap space from the Dallas Cowboys, the league issued a statement on the matter, which has been reproduced in full:

The Management Council Executive Committee determined that the contract practices of a small number of clubs during the 2010 league year created an unacceptable risk to future competitive balance, particularly in light of the relatively modest salary cap growth projected for the new agreement's early years. To remedy these effects and preserve competitive balance throughout the league, the parties to the CBA agreed to adjustments to team salary for the 2012 and 2013 seasons. These agreed-upon adjustments were structured in a manner that will not affect the salary cap or player spending on a league-wide basis.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation's Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation's NFL hub.

Washington Redskins And Dallas Cowboys Punishment Agreed On By NFL, NFLPA, According To Report

Redskins vs. Cowboys is one of the great rivalries in the NFL. But when it comes to the salary cap penalties handed down to both teams by the league, the two franchises are unlikely allies.

We know the who and what of this story: The Redskins and Cowboys had $36 million and $10 million of cap space, respectively, taken away from them by the league Monday. The why, when and how of this story is more difficult to piece together, but some details are trickling out.

From ESPN's NFC East blogger Dan Graziano, who has come out strongly against the league's ruling, this tweet:

Sources tell me NFL and NFLPA agreed to these Cowboys and Redskins penalties as part of negotiations on 2012 salary cap number.

— ESPN Blogs NFC East (@espn_nfceast) March 12, 2012

Rich Campbell of the Washington Times essentially provided confirmation of same with this tweet.

The NFLPA won't appeal #Redskins cap penalty b/c it's part of a union agreement with the NFL, a league source says.

— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) March 12, 2012

Meanwhile, Graziano just posted a Q&A on the NFC East blog, the first two questions and answers of which are reproduced below.

Q: What exactly did they do?

A: During the uncapped 2010 season, teams were repeatedly warned by the league not to structure contracts so that big money was assigned to 2010 in order to attain future-years cap relief. They were told there would be penalties if they did this. The Cowboys and the Redskins, to a greater extent than the league's other 30 teams, ignored these warnings and engaged in such behavior anyway. Miles Austin's contract with the Cowboys, which included a $17 million base salary in 2010, is being brought up as the prime example.

Q: How did they get caught?

A: The complaints against the Cowboys and the Redskins for engaging in perfectly legal behavior that violated no actual rules but only the collusive backroom dictates being issued by the league came not from the league office but from the other 30 teams, who were doing what they were told while the Cowboys and the Redskins were not. The other teams demanded action, since they were the good soldiers, and so the league decided it needed to take some.

So there you are. These penalties came about not as a result of any rule-breaking on the part of the Redskins or Cowboys, but as the result of collusion between the other 30 teams and a rubber-stamp by the Commissioner and the NFLPA. (Remember, back in 2010, the NFL saw nothing wrong with the bonuses paid to Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall that are now apparently beyond the pale.)

In short, the NFL decided to stop acting like a legitimate business and start acting like a cartel. The fact that franchises owned by Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, two of the NFL's most odious overdogs, bore the brunt of the punishment doesn't make it any less true.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.

NFL Takes $36 Million In Cap Space Away From Redskins, According To Report

Hey, remember what we said about the Redskins having a shade over $31 million in cap space to spend this offseason?

Seems like that’s not going to be the case after all.

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.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 12, 2012

Pro Football Talk has a partial explanation for why this is happening:

[T]he NFL instructed teams not to use the uncapped years as a way to dump money in order to ensure that cap numbers in years with a salary cap would be lower.

And there’s currently a rumor making the rounds that multiple teams will be smacked for doing just that: using 2010 as a cap dump aimed at either keeping the numbers manageable in 2009 and previously, or in 2011 and subsequently.

It widely was believed in 2010 that the Cowboys and Redskins had worked the system to take full advantage of the absence of a cap.

And it seems that two very familiar figures were behind this mess.

Hearing the way the Redskins restructured Haynesworth and Hall and the way the Cowboys structured Austin, NFL felt abuse too obvious.

— Andrew Brandt (@adbrandt) March 12, 2012

So there you go. Albert Haynesworth strikes again. 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen does the quick and easy math for you.

Why was the fine for $36 million? #Redskins paid Haynesworth and Hall their bonuses in one lump sum ($21 and $15 MM) during uncapped year.

— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) March 12, 2012

The blowback from this will be interesting. Remember, one of the talking points in favor of the trade with the Rams for the No.2 pick was the idea that the Redskins could make up for the lost draft picks in free agency. Not so much anymore.

Stay tuned to SB Nation DC for more information on the 2012 NFL Free Agency period. For all your Redskins news and notes, be sure to follow SB Nation’s Redskins blog Hogs Haven. And all nuggets from around the league, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NFL hub.