Redskins have trouble on the horizon

Clipped from Washington Post:

After another offseason of lavish spending on free agents, the
Washington Redskins have assembled the highest-paid team in NFL history, leading officials with several NFL teams to predict that Coach Joe Gibbs has a
two-year window to win a fourth Super Bowl before facing a salary cap
crisis that would force him to jettison many of his best players.
Officials around the NFL are watching the developments in Washington
with interest, several of them said, as Redskins owner Daniel Snyder pushes
the boundaries of the salary cap, the annual limit on the amount each team
can spend on salaries and bonuses, by deferring payments until the
out-years of players' contracts.

The Redskins' payroll in 2004 will exceed $110 million, breaking the
previous record of $102 million set by the Denver Broncos in 2001,
according to the NFL Players Association, but through prorated bonuses
and other accounting devices Washington still will manage to come in under
this year's $80.6 million salary cap. The average NFL payroll last
season was $71.77 million. Redskins officials refute the notion that they are mortgaging the team's future and say they are positioned to avoid running up against cap problems at least through 2007.

"Every move we make is done looking three years down the road," said
Vinny Cerrato, Washington's vice president of football operations. "When we
sign a free agent we know exactly how it's going to affect us and how it
will count against the salary cap, and we're not going to do something that
will put us in salary-cap jail or salary-cap hell."

"To me what they're saying is they are banking on really winning in the
next two years," said an executive who manages the salary cap for one
NFL club, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "They just aren't going
to be able to keep all those guys, they really aren't. There's nothing
wrong with building for a run to the Super Bowl, but you're only kidding
yourself to say you're not going to suffer the consequences of
overextending in the free agent market. It's mathematically
impossible."

Joe Gibbs has never coached in the salary cap era: the cap was
instituted in 1993, the year after Gibbs "retired". The Redskins once again wasted no time spending money this offseason. In the first three days of free agency, they signed QB Mark Brunell, RB Clinton Portis, CB Shawn Springs, DL Phillip Daniels, DT Cornelius Griffin, and LB Marcus Washington, giving out $50 million in signing bonuses. (And they must still sign No. 1 draft pick Sean Taylor.) In addition to giving out big signing bonuses, the Redskins have also scheduled substantial roster bonuses into many of their contracts. A good number of those roster bonuses will become due in 2006, which is why many observers believe the team has a two-year horizon before it will have to release much of its talent and start rebuilding.

 

Have I ever mentioned that Danny Snyd is an assbag?

 

He's got two years because the contracts he's signed this year have a two year minimum rather than one - they're that much further backloaded. That's where the speculation comes from, anyway - I don't know that they'll have room to move next year, since a lot of those other contracts must mature soon, but two years from now they should definitely be screwed 100% with the addition of needing to pay Arrington big bucks and having to pay Brunell/Springs contracts they won't be worth anymore.

 

I admire him for trying to win and writing the checks but like you say he is a prick. He and JR hate each other with a passion.

 

How could you admire someone who is thought to be so smart, yet can't see the writing on the wall. The NFL isn't MLB, the Redskins aren't the Yankees, you can NOT buy a championship in football, well maybe in college?

Snyder is nothing more than a spoiled child, sure his heart is in the right place...but his head has been up his ass since attaching himself to the NFL. The longest tenure of a coach has only been two years, I think. Maybe one has lasted to a 3rd season. He buys a new lot of players every year, so there's always chemistry issues.

He represents allot of what is wrong with professional sports IMO!

 

It seems like they have been saying this about the skins for years now. They were supposed to have to pay for what they added prior to the 2000 season.

 

they haven't been winning have they?

 

Yeah I've been waiting for this crisis all millenium. Why/how did it get pushed back another two years? I guess it seems the same way with the 49ers though, they are just now paying their penance.

 

No but they sure keep having enough cap space to sign anyone they want.

 

Problems for the Skins is Music to my ears and great for the Cowboys or Eagles! I may eat crow but, I think Clinton Portis is way overrated; Lavar Arrington is a stud on a decent Defense and the big problems are up front on offense. Their line is terrible! Plan on siging another QB at mid season.

Dool-say-ahhh