In 2009 the Redskins signed Deangelo hall to a 6 year, 55 million dollar contract - 23 million was guaranteed [1]
In 2009 the Redskins signed Albert Haynesworth to a 7 year, 100 million dollar contract - 32 million over the first 13 months, a total of 41 million guaranteed [2]
In March of 2010 the Redskins resetructured both contracts to move a bulk of money into the uncapped year. They were trying to dump the impact of the contracts in a way that would allow the team to move on without those players in the future without paying it salary cap wise [3]
The net gain was 36 million for the Redskins by moving the money into that year. Hence the 36 million dollar penalty. That number is not a mystical one that comes out of thin air. It's to offset the money the Redskins would have gained.
Shanahan and Allen had nothing to do with those contracts. Their options were:
A - Let the player contracts stay, deal with the players and the cap space eaten up
B - Try this maneuver and see if it works out. If it does you gain all this cap space and can easily discard these players when you see fit. If it doesn't you're not any worse off.
The problem was fundamentally with the original contracts that were created by Snyder and Cerrato. The cap penalty was given to the team because of an accounting maneuver the league wouldn't go along with, but that doesn't make the problem the fault of Shanahan and Allen.
I don't actually disagree with the league. I think the cap penalty is deserved. We screwed things up for many other owners with our ridiculous spending and contracts. Why should we get to wash our hands of all the crap we've caused because of a loophole caused by a break down in negotiations between the players and the owners? The owners certainly weren't going to be able to wash their hands of the problems the redskins had created for them (increasing player contracts.) We were made to suffer for a decade+ of managerial dysfunction and ineptitude. I realize a lot of people here disagree with my take on it, that's fine with me, I understand my opinion is not a popular one.
But none of that changes the fact that the fundamental problem was two really bad contracts created by Cerrato and Snyder that were going to eat up 36 million in cap space one way or the other. They chose to try to get away with some trickery to try to get out of it, it didn't work. It doesn't make the actual problem their doing.
1 -
DeAngelo Hall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2 -
Albert Haynesworth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3 -
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Under the Cap: Redskins Utilizing the Uncapped Year