It's almost like pulling the Monopoly card that reads, "Bank error in your favor. Collect $200." The Kansas City Chiefs can thank the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for their error in front-loading contracts during the uncapped year in the NFL because the league has officially punished them by taking away their cap space and giving it out in equal amounts to 28 other teams that obeyed by the letter of the law. That means the Chiefs and 27 other teams will gain $1.6 million in cap room for this free agency period.
For those of you scratching your heads wondering why and how this work, the details really are not known. The Skins front-loaded Albert Haynesworth contract, among others, using the uncapped year as a giant loophole. Sounds like a good idea to me, and I was personally wondering why the Chiefs weren't doing it. Apparently there must have been silent memo to not do so and a few teams disobeyed. Otherwise, this seems like a course of legal action on behalf of the offending teams.
The Raiders and Saints also dallied on their own, so they will not receive the $1.6 million bonus. The timing is also odd since the announcement comes just 24 hours before free agency starts. This could directly affect the Skins pursuit of Vincent Jackson and the Cowboys pursuit of Brandon Carr. More details will emerge soon enough, but the Chiefs are at least the recipients of a bit of extra cap room before anything begins.