NFL Cracks Down on Cowboys and Redskins for Cutting Salary Cap Corners

The NFL does not approve of the way the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins chose to arrange their payrolls in the uncapped 2010 season.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the league has decided to punish the Cowboys and Redskins:

"

NFL is taking away millions of dolllar of salary-cap space from Cowboys and Redskins for how they front-loaded deals during uncapped year.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 12, 2012"

Subsequently, Schefter noted exactly how much cap space the two teams are going to lose:

"

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"

For the record, the 2010 season was uncapped because the league's owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2008. The CBA later expired in March of 2011, leading to a months-long lockout.

In a full report on ESPN.com, Schefter notes that the Cowboys and Redskins took immediate cap hits in the 2010 season that would have normally been spread out over the length of the contracts. This gave them an advantage over other teams around the league.

Unless both the Cowboys and Redskins choose to defer their cap penalties to the 2013 season (which wouldn't make much sense), both teams are going to be limited in terms of what they can do in free agency as a result of the NFL's ruling. 

The news is particularly bad for the Redskins, as John Clayton of ESPN.com projected that they would have over $36 million in cap space to use in free agency thanks to "good cap management."

Schefter notes that each team in the NFL will receive an extra $1.6 million in cap space as a result of the penalties, with the exception of the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders.

The league took an unusually long time determining this year's salary cap, which apparently had a lot to do with the fact the league was trying to figure out how to punish the Cowboys and the Redskins.

The 2012 salary cap will be $120.6 million.

Update: Monday, March 12 at 8:30 p.m. EST

The Cowboys and Redskins have both released statements about the NFL's ruling on Monday. Both teams insist that they did nothing wrong.

Via CBSSports.com, here's Washington's statement:

"

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.

"

And Dallas' statement:

"

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.

"

Bound to happen. The Cowboys and Redskins weren't about to come out and issue statements saying "mea culpa."

But now that they've denied any wrongdoing, you can't help but wonder if this situation is only going to get uglier.

Never a dull moment in the NFL, for good or ill.