The question, even a year later, remains the same: Why did the NFL Players Association agree to the last-minute salary cap penalty that cost the Redskins $36 million in cap space and Dallas $10 million?
The NFLPA said they were hustled into a last-minute deal to end the lockout. The choice was clear: Take away money from these two teams or face a much lower salary cap.
"We were given of having a cap that was going to be way lower than what we believed it was," NFLPA assistant executive director George Atallah said in a conference call. "We were faced with a decision of [taking away] $46 million in cap space between two teams or $150 million in cap space across the league. That strikes me as an easy decision. Only after that agreement was completed was there evidence we uncovered that proved teams were colluding. Then we pursued a collusion claim."
The Redskins say they're continuing to fight to have the cap space restored, though they haven't revealed their plans.
- John Keim
