Is it time to start worrying about our cap?

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Outsiders tend to look at the Redskins and say they are headed for salary cap hell within a season or two. Conversely, Redskins' officials and fans typically argue that such claims are overhyped or simply unfounded.

As some of you may know, I tend to agree with the "sky is falling" crowd. While I don't expect the team to implode, I think that we are headed for some serious cap problems and we have begun to feel the effects of free agency spending sprees, constant contract restructuring, and failure to build the team through the draft.

It's likely that the 'Skins will be unable to afford to re-sign Smoot, unable to franchise Smoot and trade him because of the cap ramifications, lose Samuels because the front office has restructured his contract twice (leading to his bloated cap figure in 2004 and 2005), not be able to sign adequate replacements for Gardner and Coles, unable to trade Coles (because of its cap ramifications), unable to revamp our defensive line by signing a guy like Darren Howard.

In sum, the Redskins will probably lose two second round picks because of a lack of cap room (as they are unable to trade Coles and unable to tag and trade Smoot) and have inadequate depth on the defensive line and in the wide receiving corps.

Moreover, the 'Skins' cap woes weren't supposed to begin until next year. I'm afraid to even think about what that "cap hell" will mean for the Redskins.