Len Pasquarelli Is a Stupid F***

Len Pasquarelli, the ESPN.com columnist who thought Joe Gibbs would amount to nothing in his comeback and has a personal vendetta against all things Redskins, is at it again.
In his weekly Tip Sheet, Pasquarelli makes baseless claims about Washington's impending cap troubles, effortlessly spinning pure speculation into incontrovertible fact.
The piece is genuine Pasquarelli: Written without attribution, fact or any shred of common sense. That his editors at ESPN.com allow their senior NFL writer to carry out his one-sided feud with Snyder on the site's pages is inexplicable. Pasquarelli clearly has tremendous disdain for the Redskins and their owner and his bias seeps into every word he writes about the team. Oh, it's just so ridiculous. Here's the piece:

Amid all the talk that the Washington Redskins are poised to contend for a Super Bowl title in 2006, and that owner Dan Snyder is set to pursue wide receiver Terrell Owens and defensive end John Abraham, this sobering note: According to the salary cap expert from one AFC franchise, an analyst of some note and a guy who claims to have crunched the numbers every way imaginable, the Redskins cannot get into compliance with the projected spending ceiling for next season without an extension to the collective bargaining agreement.
The expert claims there are only two players on the current Washington roster who will bring the team significant cap relief if they are released. Cutting some of the team's big-name players would actually increase the cap impact in most cases. Even reducing the 2006 base salaries of all the veteran players on the roster to the minimum levels, and guaranteeing the differences in bonuses, would still leave the Redskins about $4 million-$5 million over the cap. According to the cap expert's analysis, the Redskins might have to play with as many as 15-20 rookies, all earning the minimum salary, to squeeze close to the cap.
So all those who feel that Snyder actually hopes the league is forced to go to an uncapped season in 2007, so that he can try to buy himself a Super Bowl trophy in a manner befitting George Steinbrenner, might want to rethink that notion. Without an extension, Snyder could have trouble fielding a contending team in 2006 because of the Redskins' cap problems.

1) Who said the Redskins were going after Terrell Owens or John Abraham? The Washington Post hasn't reported this. The Washington Times hasn't reported this. No reputable news publication has made any such statements.
The Owens speculation began with Peter King. It ended there also. As for Abraham, other than a mention on the ESPN.com "Rumors" page, there has been no word of any such pursuit by Washington.
Pasquarelli including the names of the two top players on the market is a not-so-subtle reminder of Snyder's free spending reputation, a reputation he hasn't lived up to since 2000, by the way.
2) Which "AFC cap expert" is spending all his time "crunching numbers" about the Redskins? Doesn't he have a job to do for the AFC team he works for? Or by "salary cap expert" does Pasquarelli mean the guy who collects the money when the team's employees order Chinese takeout?
Vinny Cerrato and his front office crew in Ashburn are by no means perfect, but does Pasquarelli and his unnamed accomplice really think the Redskins suits in Ashburn aren't aware of this alleged cap trouble? Are we supposed to believe that an AFC cap expert and Len Pasquarelli knows more about the Redskins than the Redskins themselves?
3) As my buddy Jaffe noted, how can Pasquarelli write, "there are only two players on the current Washington roster who will bring the team significant cap relief if they are released," without naming the two players. I understand Pasquarelli's need to keep his "AFC source" confidential but why can't he mention who these two players are? Because this story is pure nonsense and has no basis in fact, that's why.
4) The Redskins are going to have 15-20 rookies on their roster next season? 15-20???!!! Think about that. Think about how freaking ridiculous that statement is. Pasquarelli is suggesting that 44% of the Redskins roster will be made up of rookies. Forty-four percent! With only five picks in the upcoming April draft, Pasquarelli actually expects the Redskins to sign 15 undrafted rookies to their roster and retain them all. In 2003 (the only year I could find info on) 59 undrafted rookies made opening day rosters... IN THE ENTIRE NFL. Now Pasquarelli thinks the Redskins are going to have 20 all by themselves? He can't actually believe this, can he?! So many follow-up lines are running through my head right now that they're all washing each other away in a wave of inanity.
Plus, since only 45 men are allowed on NFL rosters, that means means Pasquarelli thinks only 25 veterans will be on the 'Skins roster, which would be difficult considering they have 37 under contract for 2006! I'm using too many exclamation points, I need to move on!
5) Everybody loves talking about team's buying championships, but how often has that really happened? The Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000 despite the highest payroll, by far, in baseball. (Sort of makes that "befitting of George Steinbrenner" line a little less relevant, doesn't it?) In that time the Marlins, Diamondbacks, Angels and White Sox have all won titles. How have the Mets and Orioles done during that span too? They consistently have the highest salaries in baseball yet consistently finish near the bottom of their respective divisions. The Redskins had the NFL's highest total payroll from 2000 to 2002. Total playoff appearances during that time: Zero.
Owners can spend all the money they want on salaries. But that doesn't mean they'll win a title because of it, no matter how many cheap digs Len Pasquarelli makes.
6) Every year since Snyder's infamous free agent binge that brought Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith and Marc Carrier to Washington, there have been rumors that the team would be in serious cap trouble in X amount of years. I think John Clayton has the template for an article saved on his laptop. But the Redskins cap overflow has never happened.
Every season I'm amazed how the Redskins can keep signing players to huge contracts and stay under the cap. Yet they always do and never have had to take part in a salary purge because of it. Pasqaurelli knows this, yet chooses to ignore it.
Look, I'm not claiming to have crunched the numbers. I don't know if the Redskins will spend 2006 in cap hell. Maybe they will. But I'm damn sure not going to take Len Pasquarelli's word for it.