Skins Payroll Hitting 112 Mil

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20040428-121032-9663r.htm

The Washington Redskins are expected to shatter the NFL payroll record with projected commitments of about $112 million in coach Joe Gibbs' first season back with the team.

The payroll estimate, which can be calculated with relative accuracy now that the draft is over and the Redskins' training camp roster essentially set, is 10 percent higher than what the NFL Players Association considers the current record, the Denver Broncos' $102 million figure in 2001.

Such spending by Washington exacerbates the cap difficulties the club will face in 2006 and beyond, but Gibbs said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Times yesterday that he isn't ignoring the organization's future.

Specifically, Gibbs said he intends to honor "every day" of his five-year, $28 million contract and that the $112 million payroll is part of a three-year plan that he, owner Dan Snyder and vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato devised.

"A lot of people will bring [the spending] up, and they'll say things to me like, 'Cap-wise, you can get in trouble,' " Gibbs said. "We know where we are. It probably means we can do less next year, for sure. Hopefully, we'll see that we've done the right things and we're settled next year. But we've also looked at [in] three years what's out there, and we're comfortable with it."

Some critics believe — and some fans fear — that the 63-year-old coach returned to Washington for a brief payday and won't be around to see the consequences of this offseason's spending. But Gibbs vowed to stay for his contract's third, fourth and fifth seasons, when many current players' pacts escalate and Washington's cap situation grows precarious.

"Believe me, [leaving early is] not my plan," Gibbs said. "I signed a five-year deal. I plan on living up to every day of it. Do I think we're going to hit immediate success? I hope, but that's not what I'm geared up for. It's going to be a long, tough haul.

"I can see [people] saying that, but I love the Redskins organization. And I'll say this: I don't think the owner would let me do that. I really don't. I think he knows he's got this forever. He's not in it for a one-year deal."

The $112 million figure, which is based on educated guesses about the final 53-man roster and the eventual contracts signed by Washington's draft picks, underscores how seamlessly Gibbs has meshed with Snyder and Cerrato in their first offseason together.

Although there remains plenty of time for the type of power struggle that has typified Snyder's five years of ownership, the three executives so far have functioned in lockstep. All three believe in pursuing players aggressively, spending liberally and emphasizing the present.

The result has been a pair of blockbuster trades, a blitz through the opening days of free agency, a safety drafted No. 5 overall and a projected total of $59 million in signing bonuses (just shy of the Baltimore Ravens' 2000 record).

Viewed collectively, the moves might seem like a typical Snyder offseason, but Gibbs emphasized that each was made very deliberately.

"Each one of those things that we did, we kept [saying], 'This is going to impact us. The following will take place,' " Gibbs said, using his hands to illustrate how each addition meant a subtraction or foregone addition elsewhere. "Every time we put in a piece, we had to say, 'OK, that's what it's going to look like down here.'

"We passed on some things — a lot of things people don't even know about. We said, 'If we do this, it will be too much.' And even a couple [signings] we did toward the end, [what we had spent] impacted what we were willing to give there. We had to say, 'We're up against it here and that would be going beyond our resources.' "

Still, Washington's record offseason follows a year in which Snyder and Cerrato compiled the NFL's second-highest payroll (in the $89 million range, trailing only the New Orleans Saints).

Many NFL officials who work with the salary cap say one big offseason is part of the natural spending cycle, but that two or three in a row can force tough decisions and Band-aid moves that ultimately lead to roster dismantlings. Over the past decade, the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Ravens all visited "cap jail."

Gibbs conceded he doesn't understand all the nuances of the cap yet, but he called Snyder "smart" and "creative" and said the owner plans to spend about three days teaching him the finer points of cap management. The coach also said he won't make certain personnel mistakes again — like allowing fullback Bryan Johnson to get a big offer in restricted free agency that necessitated a trade.

All in all, Gibbs dubbed this offseason "a good learning experience" and looked ahead to validating the big spending on the field.

"I'd say overall, we were real aggressive," Gibbs said. "And we really maximized our opportunities. But we'll see. Because [the critics are] right: 'You do all this stuff and you look good in June, then you stink when the playing starts.' That's the absolute truth — you've got to play good. We'll see how these guys play and what the team does. Because that's what we'll be evaluated on."