ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins have been hit with penalties for front-loading deals during 2010, when there was no salary cap. By front-loading deals, the two teams were able to dump a lot of salary during the uncapped year, saving them space for when the cap returned. The NFL frowned upon this tactic and has punished them as a result.
Cowboys lose $10 million in cap space, Redskins lose $36 million in space. Can split it over 2012 and 2013 any way they want. More at ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 12, 2012
The best part of this story is that the cap space the Cowboys and Redskins are being stripped of is being spread out over 28 other teams, including the Detroit Lions. Each team will get an extra $1.6 million in cap space, which is a nice surprise with the new league year one day away. Every little bit helps with the Lions' salary cap space being so limited.
By the way, the reason only 28 teams are receiving extra cap space is because the New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders aren't getting any of it. Pro Football Talk speculates that they aren't getting the extra money as punishment for "engaging in similar tactics," although whatever they did apparently wasn't serious enough to be stripped of cap space.