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| Thursday, July 31 Updated: August 19, 5:36 PM ET Redskins gamble on restricted free agents By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com |
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ASHBURN, Va. -- Throughout the NFL, where teams have been forced in recent rookie contract negotiations to respond to the revolutionary tactic employed by the Washington Redskins this spring, there are a lot of unprintable epithets for Dan Snyder's strategy of pirating away restricted free agents. In the recently refurbished office of the Redskins owner, however, it is described in a terse two-word code.
Never shy about rolling the dice, even though they have come up snake-eyes at various times in his stewardship of the high-profile franchise, Snyder is always seeking out new and aggressive avenues of player procurement. This spring, Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato wagered five choices from the 2003 draft, and oodles of cap room as well, that they had come up with a unique mechanism. The Redskins signed four restricted free agents -- by definition, veterans with three years of experience, but whose incumbent franchises held a right of first refusal on them -- to offer sheets. With the help of an arbitrator, who ruled in Washington's favor in the case of former New York Jets kick returner Chad Morton, the Redskins got all four of them. How rare is that? Consider this: Only 10 restricted free agents leaguewide had changed teams in the previous three springs. Those restricted free agent gambits cost the Redskins four draft choices as compensation to the teams that lost the players. A fifth draft choice was shipped to the St. Louis Rams in a deal that netted fleet tailback Trung Canidate. So to procure five young veterans, the Redskins forfeited choices in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. Just as significant, the Redskins invested far more money and salary cap room on the five veteran players than Washington would have it it had kept the draft choices and exercised them instead. The most expensive restricted free agent acquisition, wideout Laveranues Coles, cost the Redskins a seven-year, $35 million contract. When the Jets declined to match that offer sheet, they received the Redskins' first-round selection in exchange. It marked the beginning of a rather unorthodox spending spree, even judged by Snyder's past track record. And now Snyder, Cerrato and coach Steve Spurrier are counting on their investments to return big dividends. "We could have just stayed pat, and made the (draft) picks, but we wouldn't have gotten five starters in the draft," Cerrato said. "Not immediately, probably not ever, and we felt we had come up with a plan we could make work. And, sure, it's different from anything that's been done before." It was also more pricey than exercising the draft choices. In terms of 2003 compensation to the four restricted free agents and Canidate as well, the Redskins will pay out $20.517 million. The lion's share of that is the $13 million signing bonus Coles pocketed. Had the Redskins kept their draft choices and taken five players with them, the outlay would have been about $8.5 million, based on the contracts signed by players in the draft slots sacrificed by the team. As far as salary cap dollars, the five veterans will count an aggregate $5.37 million in '03, while the five draft players in the Redskins' former slots count $2.344 million. A breakdown on what the Redskins spent versus what it would have cost them to sign the draft picks they once had:
The on-field advantage of all the Redskins maneuvering is that, with Haley now moving into the lineup to replace the departed Dan Wilkinson, the team got five starters from its unconventional shopping spree. The downside: Washington spent nearly 2½ times more than it would have for the "slotted" draft choices they surrendered as compensation for the four restricted free agents and one trade acquisition. Down the road, the moves will have a distinct impact on the Washington salary cap, which is why the Redskins need immediate results from the aggregate deals. There are cap directors who insist the Washington method cannot succeed because, in divesting themselves of five draft choice, they forfeited the ability to acquire cheap labor. The criticisms aside, the Redskins have fielded calls from officials of other franchises, seeking insight into the Washington methodologies. The immediate upshot is that many teams have now signed middle- and late-round draft choices, who typically get three-year contracts, to four-year deals. By so doing, they eliminate a player's restricted free agent season, which comes after his third year. But the Redskins' new age approach is, Snyder acknowledged to ESPN.com this week, a dicey gambit. "We believe it made us stronger," Snyder said. "We think it's going to work out. It has to work out. These guys have to play well for us." Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. |
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