Redskins Might Have the Cash to Sign Durant in 2016!!

It would appear that based on spending figures obtained from the NFLPA, the Redskins are clearing cap space to make a run at Kevin Durant in 2016.

Before I lead you further down the path of incredulity, let me say that salary cap penalties levied on our beloved team made it very difficult to spend the money that the Collective Bargaining Agreement mandates. I have spent an extra day processing this story before putting it up here, mostly because my initial reaction was, "You have to be f@#king kidding me." (Also, the Kevin Durant angle didn't hit me until late last night.)

Let's just review a few key facts that have been widely reported on by now:

• Under current CBA rules, NFL clubs have minimum spending requirements. We never talk about it around here, because the Redskins have spent money like a three-year old in a candy shop. (I was going to say, "...like Ih8 in a porn shop," but first of all, that would simply not be classy; and second of all, I am pretty sure the internet has run brick-and-mortar porn shops out of business.) Put differently (that is to say...with class), if you gave Ih8 a pocket full of money and sent him into the red-light district in Amsterdam, do you think you would have to force him to spend AT LEAST 89% of that money? Similarly, Dan Snyder has never had any problem with the spending side of the equation.
• Between the years 2013-2016, NFL teams have to spend an average of 89% of the salary cap on players. For the life of me, I simply won't ever understand why teams don't try harder to spend 100% of the salary cap on players. We're only talking about cash spent on players. Clearly, bonus amortizations and other contract wrinkles can lead to the creation of "dead space," but when I see that the Oakland Raiders are sitting on 80% spent, one thing occurs to me. "Uhhhhh...Oakland...there's your problem."
• The Redskins have achieved an 87% average over the last two years, meaning they are actually pretty close, and have two years to get that number above where it needs to be. The biggest impact to their efforts to comply with the CBA stems from the salary cap penalty that ended after the 2013 season. Because of this, they only spent about $99.5 million in 2013, but they recovered in 2014 with $123 million doled out in cash (92% of the cap). Important note--everything is measured in CASH, not cap space.
• Nobody would or should bet that the Redskins will fail to achieve the proper percentage of spending between now and 2016, which would mean they would have to pay the difference to the union.
• This whole situation begs the question, "I wonder if this has anything to do with the stale beer and peanuts they were selling at FedEx?" (It actually doesn't beg that question, but the investigatory Zoolander in me believes everything is somehow connected...like when Anthony Weiner posted pictures of his junk to the world and millions of dudes all of a sudden felt better about "themselves." See? Connected.)
• I am still trying to find out how much of Max Scherzer's contract Dan Snyder is on the hook to pay. It can't possibly be zero.