Report: Redskins considering legal action to get salary cap space back

The Redskins are reportedly looking to recoup some of the cap space that was stripped from them by the NFL. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Washington Redskins are considering taking legal action against the NFL, in a last-ditch effort to gain back $36 million of cap space the NFL stripped of the team last year.

The Washington Post’s Mark Maske and Mike Jones reported that the Redskins could seek to delay the start of free agency in a legal injunction. Earlier, the Post reported that the team had stopped contract talks with some of their players, telling them and their agents that they were still holding out for the possibility they could get back some of the cap space that was taken from them last year.

The NFL penalized both the Redskins and Dallas Cowboys last season for front-loading contracts during a non-capped season. The NFL took away $36 million of cap space from the Redskins, half of which will be imposed this season. But a source told the Post that the Redskins “have a plan” to recoup some or all of that cap space.

Whatever the Redskins could gain back would be significant. Right now, the team is about $4 million over this season’s salary cap, according to the Post.

The Post noted, however, that several people involved in or familiar with the case believe it’s “highly unlikely that the team can succeed in having salary cap space restored.”