Redskins Dump Lloyd, Rework Contracts of Samuels & Jansen

The Washington Redskins have finally cut the cord on dissapointing wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, after having wasted at least $15 million on him the past 2 years. Washington originally acquired the perenially underachieving wideout in a 2006 trade with the San Francisco 49ers, in which they gave up a 2006 3rd rounder and 2007 4th rounder. The Redskins brass then awarded Lloyd a 6-year $30 million contract, with $12 million in guaranteed money. According to the Washington Times, the Redskins will process the move as a post-June 1 cut, meaning they will spread the cap hit out over both 2008 and 2009, with $4.2 million hitting the cap this year. He will hit the free agent market immediately, but the interest from other teams will be tepid to lukewarm, at best.

In other Redskins news, the team has restructed the contracts of starting offensive tackles Jon Jansen and Chris Samuels, converting larger 2008 base salaries to guaranteed bonuses, and spreading the proration out over the remaining years of each deal. Samuels' prior $8.2 million cap number was reduced to $5.1 million, and Jansen's number was reduced from $7.7 million to $4.5 million. The two 'simple' restructurings will save the team about $6.5 million against the cap this year, but will push the cap figures for both players higher for the next couple of years, increasing the likelihood they will have to be addressed again in a year or two.