Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Posted by Mike Florio on March 17, 2012, 11:08 AM EDT
[IMG]http://nbcprofootballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/gavel2_getty1.jpg?w=250[/IMG] Five days after the NFL dropped a salary-cap bomb on the Redskins and the Cowboys, the teams could be retaliating with a bomb of their own.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the Redskins and Cowboys could be going “nuclear” with the NFL as soon as Monday.
More specifically, the two teams are contemplating suing anyone and everyone connected to the sudden removal of $46 million in total cap space over the next two years, based on the contention that their treatment of the term “uncapped year” too literally somehow created a competitive disadvantage. Even though no rules or policies were violated.
The teams will spend the weekend examining every possible option. ”Who can I sue and how can I sued them?” will be the operative questions. (It’s unknown whether a “[URL="http://cliqueclack.com/tv/2012/03/14/south-park-reverse-cowgirl/"][COLOR=#0066cc]suance[/COLOR][/URL]” is being considered.)
Adding to the teams’ frustration, we’re told, is that the deal to take away the cap money was brokered between NFLPA executive DeMaurice Smith and the NFL Management Council Executive Committee, without a full vote of NFLPA leadership or NFL ownership. The chairman of the CEC is Giants owner John Mara, whose team benefits directly from the removal of cap room from two of his chief division rivals.
It’s unknown whether the Redskins and Cowboys are bluffing in order to force a compromise, or whether they indeed truly intend to file suit. Reducing the allegations to writing necessarily will expose that the league was engaged in collusion in 2010, which could have all sorts of unintended consequences for the entire NFL, including the Redskins and the Cowboys.
And so the real question is whether the Redskins and Cowboys are angry/crazy enough to drop a grenade into a room they won’t be able to escape.
The answer very well could be yes.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Bring me the head of Roger Goodell!

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

i don't care about gaining anything but getting rid of the fines.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

sometimes you just got to make S#@$ go BOOM!

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

hell yes. this is what needs to be done.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

I hope they open up a can of woop a#s.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwlQ0qJxaGo]Rambo - I'm coming to get YOU! - YouTube[/ame]

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

If anything, remove any benefit to the rest of the league because apparently they get a "reward" for being good little soldiers. I'd be OK (not great) with that outcome.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

The NFL is a twisted, perverted experiment in socialism, spreading the wealth, in the name of "Revenue Sharing", of a couple multi-billionaires to lesser billionaires. It is without question, that the NFL is an organization hell bent on protecting the power and privilege of the....NFL.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

It would be surprising if things ever saw a courtroom. But our threatening is the right thing to do.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=BuckSkin;900528]The NFL is a twisted, perverted experiment in socialism, spreading the wealth, in the name of "Revenue Sharing", of a couple multi-billionaires to lesser billionaires. It is without question, that the NFL is an organization hell bent on protecting the power and privilege of the....NFL.[/quote]

Revenue sharing in and of itself is a great thing. Relatively true competitive balance and parity is something to be admired especially when you have sports like the NBA were the Lakers were in something like 8 out of the last 12 NBA Finals and the Yankees with 27 billion World Series titles.

No doubting though that the cap fines are a clear abuse of power on the part of Goodell and possibly Mara, especially considering that other teams that "abused" the uncapped year went unpunished.

This is the right thing to do without a doubt. For once the lawyers will be useful.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Ah yes... John Mara, I have as much respect for him as I do Paris Hilton. They both owe their entire identity to who daddy is/was.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

It is a question of leverage. Is there anything for us between bending over completely and the nuclear option?

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=JWsleep;900546]It is a question of leverage. Is there anything for us between bending over completely and the nuclear option?[/quote]

Yup. Significantly reduced penalties agreed upon at the next owner's meeting seems like an acceptable middle way out. Maybe other teams get their $1.6 mil cap bump but we get none.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

I think the Skins Boyz are definitely justified to handle it this way. It's absurd this penalty was levied w/ Mara running the proverbial show. I think the league would be wise to drop the penalties completely but they probably can't to save face.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

This is more a matter of principal to me. 30 owners break the law with collusion, two choose not to break the law, and what kind of message does the NFL want to send to the public and kids out there....it's ok to lie and cheat and break the law but if you do the right thing and don't break the law you'll be punished. Nice.

Really nice image to send to everyone Mr. Goodell break the law and we will reward you if you don't you get punished. All the players who got into trouble with a banned substance should file a lawsuit also, I mean why should they have to pay a penalty if the 30 owners can break the law and not pay a penalty.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

In the words of good ol stone cold.. Oh hell yea

Atogwe over Meriwheather who couldn't stop a nyg wr for nothin

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

We would have gotten vjax. Cboys woulda got Finnegan. Highway robbery. Now Landry is leaving regardless of our individual opinions, atogwe too. And where's Fletcher's contract????

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

worse yet, where are all those o-linemen we need? We're being shut out there.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

some local business should offer a $21M prize to the next player who signs a 7 year contract with the redskins, and a $15M prize to the next player who signs a 6 year contract with the redskins

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

My guess after the Grossman deal is somewhere around $5.5 million in cap space.

That's smaller than the rookie pool will be. So even still needing to create space for Fletcher, we're on dollars borrowed from future seasons at this point.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

I want everything, draft picks, cap space...everything

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=JWsleep;900579]worse yet, where are all those o-linemen we need? We're being shut out there.[/quote]

On the roster.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=Skins4L;900576]In the words of good ol stone cold.. Oh hell yea

Atogwe over Meriwheather who couldn't stop a nyg wr for nothin[/quote][IMG]http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g15/Turd_Cutter/stalefacejpg.gif[/IMG]

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

The league should really play ball because the more this issue is examined, the more ridiculous they look. They sprang this punishment on the eve of free agency. They said the teams could spread the punishment over the next two years however they like and then reversed themselves and said at least half of the punishment had to be taken this season. They punished two teams for front loading contracts yet no punishment for the Bears who gave Julius Peppers a $20M base salary in 2010, dropping to $900k base salary in 2011. They didn't punish teams like the Bucs who exploited the absence of a minimum spending cap. Bottom line, they did not mete out punishments equally, they made the rules up as they went along, and waited two years to dole out "justice" on contracts the league approved!

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=Counter-Tre;900624]The league should really play ball because the more this issue is examined, the more ridiculous they look. They sprang this punishment on the eve of free agency. They said the teams could spread the punishment over the next two years however they like and then reversed themselves and said at least half of the punishment had to be taken this season. They punished two teams for front loading contracts yet no punishment for the Bears who gave Julius Peppers a $20M base salary in 2010, dropping to $900k base salary in 2011. They didn't punish teams like the Bucs who exploited the absence of a minimum spending cap. Bottom line, they did not mete out punishments equally, they made the rules up as they went along, and waited two years to dole out "justice" on contracts the league approved![/quote]amen

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

start throwing grenades. it's crap and i doubt it will stand as long as they show they're willing to fight it at any cost.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Here's the main issue with all of this (among many very salient and relevant issues that all equal total crap):

The whole situation shows how the the NFL's owners operate as a cartel. Play by their rules or they'll put you down. There really is no denying it. There is no obvious legal justification for their actions, and there's even less justification from a fairness standpoint. But that isn't the point. If you think the repercussions of not following their illegal collusive activity were bad just wait until a lawsuit is filed from within their own that threatens their beloved antitrust exemption. I am not sure we can conceive of the reaction to that. Our "nuclear" option might dwarfed by theirs.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=GTripp0012;900589]My guess after the Grossman deal is somewhere around $5.5 million in cap space.

That's smaller than the rookie pool will be. So even still needing to create space for Fletcher, we're on dollars borrowed from future seasons at this point.[/quote]

Doubt Rexs contact is anywhere near that. Last year he was the starter and signed for the vet min. Now he's a backup. Not gonna be over 2.5 mil, but I'd guess its under 2 mil.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=skinster;900642]Doubt Rexs contact is anywhere near that. Last year he was the starter and signed for the vet min. Now he's a backup. Not gonna be over 2.5 mil, but I'd guess its under 2 mil.[/quote]

Probably less than TJax's hit for sure.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Fry them all.

Truly bad form on the NFL, which seems to usually carry itself with some class. To initially approve the contracts, wait two years, spring a HUGE punishment on the league's biggest two teams, and to do it <24 hours before free agency so they couldn't prepare. Just poor poor form and they deserve to get crushed. Just stinks of owners trying to get back at us, and punish the team instead of the owner. If they did this 2 years ago, or even earlier this year would be one thing, but the way it was done was dirty.

I would fully support the team on this one, if public opininon means anything in this process.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

this honestly makes me want to give up the nfl. A bunch of billionaires complaining the world isn't fair, the world isn't fair and they are already winning. the only way to hurt them is to stop feeding their money flow. that is all they understand.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

Btw, of course I know the wounds were self-inflicted. That they "warned us", etc. However, just seems that:

1) Other teams also did similar but less bold moves
2) There were no written rules that we broke. If they wanted to have restrictions, they should have written them in there in the first place. For example, when they set the rules for the uncapped year, if they were that worried about competition, why did they have the uncapped in the first place.
3) Even if we did something wrong, their timing was just a jerk move to further punish the team without recourse.
4) I get the feeling that Bruce Allen made the moves (?), not Snyder this time, and generally Bruce is a likeable guy. I'd support him much more than just Snyder.
5) Biggest of all -- the punishments didn't fit the crime. For example, if we played by "their unwritten rules" -- the Haynesworth and Hall contracts would have been restructured and spread out over 5 years, etc --> so why are they forcing us to take the hit within 2 years? And if we are responsible for taking back the full cap hit of $36 million, WHY does every other team get additional money? Why give out additional money to anyone else at all? I'd bet it is so the other teams would vote against us, I'm sure.


Hope this gets resolved quickly, but if they actually pursue this, I can't imagine a decision for months to years, and the only help it could give us is next year. IF we win this somehow, it'd be nice to have more cap next year, when RG3 would be getting better and our team could be 1 year closer to being a contender.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

I hope this gets resolved quickly. In my opinion the 'Skins have to go though with this move in order to have any chance of at least getting the penalty reduced. And I do think they will reduce it if the NFL feels this could damage the NFL shield in anyway.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

The NFL didn't look down the road on this, they should have left it alone.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

I saw a funny post on ESPN. It said "If the NFL truly wanted to punish these two teams, they would raise their cap limit. It seems the more money they spend the worse they do." Of course that applies more under the Cerrato regime than what I have seen from Allen, but still thought it was funny.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

From whichever angle you approach this it stinks to high heaven. But the fact that the NFL sprung this on the Redskins 24 hours before free agency has to be the most egregious and blatant of them all.

Now the NFL is on the verge of losing the PR battle because nobody - and I mean nobody -- does PR and spin better than Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones. So while the NFL may be able to stand on some very flimsy legal justification, the optics are about to favor Jones and Snyder.

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

[quote=Counter-Tre;900624]The league should really play ball because the more this issue is examined, the more ridiculous they look. They sprang this punishment on the eve of free agency. They said the teams could spread the punishment over the next two years however they like and then reversed themselves and said at least half of the punishment had to be taken this season. They punished two teams for front loading contracts yet no punishment for the Bears who gave Julius Peppers a $20M base salary in 2010, dropping to $900k base salary in 2011. They didn't punish teams like the Bucs who exploited the absence of a minimum spending cap. Bottom line, they did not mete out punishments equally, they made the rules up as they went along, and waited two years to dole out "justice" on contracts the league approved![/quote]
Well put . At times the NFL , Owners and NFLPA are a joke , make you wonder why the NFLPA does't seem to care that Tampa spent less than the minimum on the cap in 2010 or '11 as I understand it ? If I were Synder , the visiting owners box would have to listen to " Hail to the Redskins " all day long at our home games the next two years !

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

The way I understand it...30 teams agreed to this punishment...so it is 30 vs 2.
The NFL is more of a club than a business.
How can the skins sue?....who are they suing?...the NFL?....they are the nfl?
The 32 owners are the NFL and the commissioner is paid by the owners.
How can you sue yourself?, the players association also agreed to approve it.
This is all legit the way the NFL/players association works.
Collusion is a different call...but you'd have to argue that was done to keep pay down..can't be argued this year since they kept the cap total the same...but could be argued during the non cap year...but think about it, is it really worth it?
Sure the Skins got screwed..but they are going to pay the cap hit they normally would have...the issue I have is a couple others got away with it on a smaller scale....and if you pursue a lawsuit, you will make enemies of those you depend on.
You really dont want the NFL a perpetual enemy of the Skins...think of penalties, fines, scheduling, supplemental draft picks, etc

Re: Redskins, Cowboys could go “nuclear” over cap mess
 

If you don't believe owner's can't sue the NFL and win google Al Davis