Still trying to figure out, as Darren Hambrick might put it, '*What do uncapped mean?'
*So are a significant number of people who cover the NFL. The latest to delve into the issue of the Cowboys and Redskins losing a combined $46 million in salary cap space over the next two years is Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, who cites sources who explained that in order to avoid a dip in the size of the salary cap this year, the NFL Players Association accepted the collusion that would seem implied in the sanctions against Dallas and Washington.
The report says the cap was scheduled to dip some $7 million for each team this year, which matches the whispers around Valley Ranch shortly after the league levvied its penalty. In order to avoid that, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith reluctantly accepted the deal.
Smith is up for re-election as the union chief, and Cole implies that a significant reduction in the salary cap would've severely hurt his chances.
An unnamed former player tells Yahoo! that the NFLPA had little choice but to accept the deal:
*"Why did we agree to it? Because the league had us over a barrel. If we didn't agree to the penalty for the Redskins and the Cowboys, the cap would have been $113 million, the players would have been [angry] and De would have gotten fired.
*"What the league is doing is collusion, plain and simple."
