Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

" Real " deal with Haynesworth is 4 years, $48 million

One more before calling it a night. As it turns out, there is no way that Dan Snyder is going to write $100 million in checks to Alberty Haynesworth.

From ESPN.com: League sources told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that a $29 million 'poison pill' in the fifth year of Haynesworth's contract effectively makes it a four-year deal worth $48 million. The Redskins would owe Haynesworth a lump sum of $29 million in salary and bonuses in 2013, the fifth year of the deal. It is unlikely the team will pay the full commitment of $100 million over seven years unless the contract is re-negotiated. Haynesworth will receive $41 million in guaranteed money.

So it's worth "only" $48 million in reality. Certainly there will be a big cap hit to release him in 2013--if there is a cap in 2013.

Dock back in the house

According to Adam Schefter, the Washington Redskins have brought back guard Derrick Dockery. Their former third-round draft pick has signed a five–year contract worth $26 million with $8.5 million of that guaranteed.

Dockery returns after a couple of years in Buffalo. He left in 2007 to take a seven-year, $49 million offer from the Buffalo Bills. The Redskins struggled to find a replacement, finally settling for a stopgap measure in Pete Kendall, acquired by trade from the Jets.

Vinny Cerrato was quoted this morning that the Redskins where nearly out of money (ya think?) but they had saved enough cap space for an offensive lineman. They had negotiated with Dockery and his agent by phone starting Thursay evening (since the Bills had released him, that was perfectly legal) and stopped while the player made a visit to Detroit. It appears that talks resumed after that visit and the deal was struck this evening.

The expenditures for the day total $180 million for Dockery, Albert Haynesworth, and DeAngelo Hall. I think it's safe to go to bed now.

Springs released

Per the Post, Shawn Springs said that he has been told that he has been released.

More to follow.
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Hall, Haynesworth define risk/reward

It's not even breakfast time on the first day of NFL free agency and Daniel Snyder has spent $154 million.

Not bad for a guy with no money.

By retaining cornerback DeAngelo Hall for six years at a cost of $54 million and by purchasing the services of defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth for seven years for a cool $100 million, the Washington Redskins have become a better team literally overnight.

The two elements that were missing from last year's defense, ranked #5 in the NFL in terms of yardage, were a pass rush and takeaways. Haynesworth gives the Redskins a better pass rush all by himself. He racked up 14.5 sacks the past two seasons, the most by any tackle in the NFL. In addition, he will make Andre Carter and Jason Taylor much more effective. Last year, the two ends, and any blitzing linebackers or defensive backs, had to take the Great Circle route to get to the opposing quarterbacks. Offenses were able to fan out their protection because of the lack of any sort of pass rush threat coming from up the middle. With Haynesworth present in the middle the opposition won't be able to do that.

Should the pass rush materialize, that will lead to a lot of passes off the back foot and a lot of passes with a defender in the face. That creates interceptions and Hall is hoping that a lot of them fall into his waiting arms.

The potential rewards come hand in hand with potential risk. Even if you sign two model citizens to deals totaling $64 million in guaranteed money there are concerns that they won't be able to live up to it. There is the chance of serious injury and the possibility that cashing in will remove the incentive to play hard.

And both Hall and Haynesworth come with some baggage, although it's important to note that neither is on Roger Goodell's radar screen as far as off-field issues are concerned. Hall has displayed a "me-first" attitude to the point of being tagged "MeAngelo". Haynesworth stomped on the face of Dallas' Andre Gurode during a 2006 game. That drew a five-game suspension, the longest in NFL history for an on-field incident.

How the Redskins can afford all of this is another question. It appeared that the Redskins went into midnight with about $11 million in 2009 cap space. Signing bonuses can only be spread out over five years for cap purposes and a player's salary, including roster and option bonuses, can go up by only 30% per season.

The details of the deals will come out later and it will be very interesting to see how they were structured. I have to think that Shawn Springs has seen his last day as a Redskin as his $6 million cap number probably needs to go off the books.

I also think that Snyder would be more than willing to let the salary cap go away next year. That would make any future cap issues created by these monster contracts a moot point.

Haynesworth a Redskin

On the ESPN News crawl, 7 years, $100 million. And, per the Tennessean, $41 million guaranteed.

Let that sink in. Forty one million dollars guaranteed.

More to come.

Hall back in the fold

The Redskins have signed DeAngelo Hall to a six-year deal worth $54 million. As with any deal you'll hear about in the next several days, the key numbers are $23 million guaranteed and nearly $30 million in the first three years of the deal.

Apparently the Redskins are satisfied that Hall has matured and that his "MeAngelo" days are behind him. It will be interesting to see if there are any provisions in the deal that will protect the team should he stray off the reservation.

Although it seems as though we've been hearing about him forever, Hall is just 25; he won't be 26 until November. He has two Pro Bowl appearances, which is two more than any current member of the Redskins defense has with the exception of Jason Taylor.

On the other hand, Hall will have to deal with the infamous Redskins Pro Bowl jinx. Since the start of the free agency era, no player who made a Pro Bowl appearance before signing with the Skins has made one while with Washington.

Is Haynesworth to Skins a done deal?

Well, no sooner do I tell people to get visions of Albert Haynesworth in Burgundy and Gold out of their heads than comes this report from a blog in the Houston Chronicle:

The Z Report: Albert Haynesworth will be a Washington Redskin: This time around he tells me that the Washington Redskins will break the bank to sign Albert Haynesworth. The Titans could come over the top of the Redskins deal as well, but my guess is that the Redskins will let Haynesworth get the best offer possible from the Titans and then 'better deal' it.

The "he" the writer (a Houston radio host named Lance Zierlein) is referring to is a league source he claims is highly reliable.

This come on the heels of Peter King's guess that Haynesworth will wind up in D. C., based primarily on the fact that Dan Snyder had dinner with Haynesworth's agent during the combine in Indianapolis last week.

I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this right now because it may or may not happen. It unquestionably would be a good football move. The Redskins desperately need a force in the middle of the line to collapse the pocket and give Andre Carter, Jason Taylor, and other pass rushers a more direct route to the quarterback. Haynesworth could turn the Washington defense from good to great.

There are some flaws to his game. According to King, he has played about 65% of the snaps on Tennessee's defense. Defensive tackles do rotate, but that's on the low side for a big-money starter. He misses games here and there due to injury. And he has missed some due to suspension, like when he tried to rearrange the face of Andre Gurode of the Cowboys in 2006.

How the money side of it will work is a mystery. The talk is of a contract with $30 million guaranteed and $11 million to $15 million a year. Given that signing bonuses can be amortized over just five seasons now and that salaries can go up just 30% a year, it will be very intersting to see how it will work.

If it works at all. This has the aroma of the age-old trick of an agent spreading a rumor about interest on the part of the Skins to try to drive up his client's price. For some reason there seems to be some fire to go with this smoke, but I'm still quite skeptical.

Redskins ’ problem—free agency isn’t free

With the release of Marcus Washington the Washington Redskins saved $4 million in salary cap space. That, combined with the restructures done by Antwaan Randle El and Andre Carter and the voiding of Phillip Daniels' contract (confirmed yesterday by LaCanfora) puts the Redskins right around the $123 million cap limit. They have to be under that limit by midnight next Friday, February 27.

If they are under that limit, it won't be by much and that's the problem for those who have visions of Albert Haynesworth dancing in their heads. While the Redskins have been very creative in doing a lot with a little cap space, their creativity will be severely hampered this offseason.

Even if they release both Jason Taylor and Shawn Springs, moves that Jim Zorn said he doesn't want to make, they would be right around $10 million under the cap. That's a lot of money in the real world but in the world of the NFL salary cap it's chump change. The team needs to set aside money for the rookie pool (this hasn't been finalized but it will be in the neighborhood of $2-$3 million) and a couple of million to replace players who wind up on injured reserve. Five million or so doesn't get you very far in the NFL free agent market these days, not when the median number is $19 million under and several teams such as Tampa Bay, Denver, and Arizona are over $40 million under.

Many of the restructure techniques that the Redskins have used to create cap space out of thin air in the past are unavailable to them. That's because there are restrictions on how much a players' compensation can go up going into an uncapped year. Since 2010 is scheduled to be uncapped they can't cut a player's cap number this year through bonus conversions because it would go up too much next year to be legal under the collective bargaining agreement.

Another problem is that the team ends up dealing from a position of weakness when it is desperate to make deals to get under the cap. Virtually any other NFL team would be telling Jon Jansen and his $5 million cap hit that escalates to over $8 million in each of the next two years thanks for the memories right now. But because they had to redo his contract to create cap space a couple of years ago, when he already was in decline, and they had to guarantee him a bunch of money in the process, they would take a cap hit in excess of $6 million if they released him. So the Redskins are stuck with a lineman who is well past his prime but who is taking up the cap space of a perennial All Pro.

In short, the pigeons are coming home to roost. They have the triple whammy of eating a high cap number for a player who is taking up a roster spot that could be used for a younger, developmental player and they can't afford to do anything about it.

It doesn't look like those redone contracts signed by Carter and Randle El are quite as ugly down the road as is Jansen's, but pushing back a few million here and a few million there adds up to some real money at some point. And this year it's adding up to a season where the Redskins are right up against the cap and wearing handcuffs.

Both Cerrato and Zorn have said that the Redskins are going to be active in free agency. I've been active in trying to find a Sony 52" plasma TV and a blow-the-windows-out surround sound system and I can't find those items at a price that will fit my budget. Zorn and Cerrato are likely to find themselves under similar constraints come Friday.

Washington released

The Redskins released Marcus Washington on Friday. Here is the team's press release.

The Washington Redskins announced today that they have released linebacker Marcus Washington.

The nine-year NFL veteran spent the last five seasons in Washington, playing in 68 games, including 66 starts, and totaling 466 tackles, 19.5 sacks, one interception, 10 forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.

“As free agency approaches there are difficult choices that have to be made. This certainly was a hard decision because Marcus played such an important role on our defense and in our locker room,” Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn said. “Marcus has been an outstanding professional and has made some great contributions to the Redskins organization over the past five seasons. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to coach and be around Marcus during my first season as a head coach in the NFL. We wish him the very best.”

Washington earned a Pro Bowl selection following his first season with the Redskins in 2004, when he registered 130 tackles, 4.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Last year, while playing in 10 games with nine starts, Washington tallied 46 tackles, including three for loss.

Daneils ' contract voided?

News item:

Daniels says he wants to stay: "Phillip Daniels doesn’t want to go anywhere. He might not have a choice. Then again, he might find out he has more choices than he realizes.

The Redskins’ defensive end will be an unrestricted free agent Feb. 27 — the last two years of his contract were voided — who hopes there’s a market for a soon-to-be 36 year old coming off knee surgery."

I haven't hear this anywhere else and this doesn't carry a byline so I'm not 100% sure that it's true. The Examiner hasn't proven to be a suspect source by any means, but there is no John Keim byline here so I'm adding the cafeat. If it is true, the move would save about $2.2 million in cap space.

This doesn't necessarily mean that he won't be back, but I wouldn't be doing any refinancing on a DC house if I was him.