Last week, the Washington Redskins traded away their first-round draft picks in the 2013 and 2014 NFL Drafts along with their second-round pick in next month's draft to essentially acquire Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. The price for Griffin was steep, but at least the Redskins, who had about $31 million in salary cap space, could bolster their lineup through free agency. Yeah, about that...
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Redskins and the locally-hated Dallas Cowboys will both forfeit salary cap space this season and next season for front-loading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season in an attempt to lower future cap hits. The difference -- and by "difference," I actually mean "BIG difference" -- is that while the Cowboys will forfeit $10 million, the Redskins will forfeit $36 million. That is quite a bit of money.
Dallas and Washington can split their respective differences over the course of two seasons. Every other team in the NFL except for the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders will benefit from this, earning $1.6 million in extra cap space (the Saints and Raiders are apparently excluded because they engaged in similar infractions).
Why $36 million? 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen explains that the 'Skins paid both Albert Haynesworth and DeAngelo Hall their bonuses upfront.
Haynesworth strikes again.
Possibly to free up some cap space, the Redskins released Oshiomogho Atogwe and Mike Sellers Monday. The Russian Roulette that is figuring out the Redskins' salary cap issues has officially begun.
Speaking of Russians and salary cap issues, this season might be Alexander Semin's last in a Washington Capitals uniform. According to The Washington Post's Tarik El-Bashir, the Caps and Semin have not had any dicussions regarding a contract extension, so it is possible that Semin's days in D.C. are fewer than the No. 28 that he wears on his back. Semin has signed two separate one-year extensions during the past two seasons, but they had already been signed by this point in the season. Semin has played well under head coach Dale Hunter (13 of his 18 goals and 23 of his 28 assists have come since Hunter replaced Bruce Boudreau in late November), but his work ethic has always been at the forefront, so that might cause the ultimate rift in negotations.
Sports
If Semin does not return, the Caps will not have to go far to replace him. As submitted by reader Lyn Stout, Brady Murphy scored an impressive between-the-legs goal for his team in the Montgomery Youth Hockey Association playoffs in Rockville, Md. (skip to the 1:30 mark of the video).
As I write this sentence, Murphy has been signed to a 10-year contract worth several million dollars that will be finalized once he learns to count that high.
Adam Vingan is co-founder and editor of Kings Of Leonsis, a Caps-centric blog, and is the Capitals Editor for SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter @Adam_KOL and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.
