NFL Rumors: Uncapped Year Could Doom Cowboys and Redskins' Free Agency Dreams

The latest buzz surrounding the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins is that the NFL is going to take away a significant amount of cap space in response to the way the teams handled their contract negotiations in 2011, an uncapped year.

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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

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The league put the uncapped year in as part of the CBA contract as a means to entice owners to sign on, but warned 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."

The Cowboys and Redskins didn't listen or didn't care about the consequences and did it anyways. 

Dallas gave Miles Austin an extension last season that paid him $17 million as a base salary for 2011, clearly violating the instruction of the league, as his base salary in 2012 is only $1.15 million. 

With both teams looking to make some major upgrades through free agency, the ramifications of their actions could come back to bite them in the behind in a major way.

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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"

The Cowboys have reportedly been highly interested in acquiring either Cortland FInnegan or Brandon Carr, the highly-desired free agent cornerbacks from the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans.

The Redskins were reportedly one of the favorites to land the talents of wide receiver Vincent Jackson, the former San Diego Charger. 

Both teams could be looking at a disappointing result after being hyped to make a major impact on the talent of their rosters. 

It could be another long, long year for them and their fans.

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