Salary Cap

Defensive back Lawyer Milloy was one of three players released by the Buffalo Bills yesterday in a significant salary-cap purge. Defensive tackle Sam Adams and tight end Mark Campbell also were released in moves that saved the Bills an estimated $9.1 million in salary cap space. The team has not determined whether to release veteran receiver Eric Moulds , who rejected the Bills' offer to restructure his contract earlier this week. The cuts occurred prior to the start of the NFL free agency period tomorrow.

The lockout was easier than all this. In many ways, more peaceful, too. Nine months after the NFL and the players' union agreed on an unprecedented 10-year labor deal that, at the time, had everyone from Roger Goodell to DeMaurice Smith smiling, the relationship between the sides couldn't be testier. During this offseason alone, the union has filed grievances in the Saints bounties case and for drug-related suspensions for two Broncos. On Wednesday, it claimed all 32 teams colluded to impose a secret salary cap in the uncapped 2010 season.

NFL owners ratified the agreement between the league and players' union that takes away $36 million in salary cap space from the Redskins and $10 million from the Cowboys. Other than Dallas and Washington, no club voted Tuesday to oppose the agreement, which raised the salary cap for 2012 from about $113 million to $120.6 million. The Cowboys and Redskins have sought arbitration, which will be conducted by University of Pennsylvania professor Stephen Burbank. Both teams were penalized for overloading contracts in the 2010 uncapped season despite league warnings not to do so. Each must take...

The Patriots signed first-round draft pick Chandler Jones Wednesday. Jones, the 21st overall pick out of Syracuse, is a 6-foot-5-inch, 265-pound pass rusher whom the Patriots selected after moving up from 27th by trading with the Bengals. A three-year starter with the Orange, Jones played in just seven games last fall after suffering a leg injury against Wake Forest. He had four sacks and 39 tackles. Financial terms were not released, but by the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, first-round picks receive four-year contracts with a team option for a fifth.

An arbitrator upheld the NFL's salary cap reductions on the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for this season and next. Stephen Burbank ruled Tuesday in favor of the league and dismissed the grievances by both teams. The Redskins lost $36 million over two years. The Cowboys lost $10 million for overloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season despite league warnings about such maneuvering. The Cowboys and Redskins, who filed their grievances against the league and players' association, said in a joint statement they would "abide by the arbitrator's decision to dismiss.

Though the NFL reportedly repeatedly told clubs not to use the 2010 uncapped season as an opportunity to dump contracts and salary during that time, two teams in particular didn't listen: the Cowboys and Redskins. According to multiple reports, the league has docked the clubs by taking money from them off the salary cap: $36 million for the Redskins and $10 million for Dallas. The reduction can be spread over the 2012 and '13 seasons in any way the teams choose. The NFL Players Association insisted that the funds go back into the player-payment pool, meaning that 28...

MINNEAPOLIS — The NFL Players Association filed a complaint in federal court Wednesday, accusing the league of colluding to impose a secret salary cap during the uncapped 2010 season. The claim was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, which oversees the Reggie White settlement covering NFL labor matters. The complaint claims a ‘‘conspiracy" to set a $123 million salary cap for the 2010 season, when owners did not have the authority to do so. The Cowboys and Redskins have had their future salary caps lowered for overspending in 2010,...

Quarterback Kerry Collins was released by the New York Giants yesterday, less than a week after the team traded for rookie Eli Manning . Collins, who led the Giants to the 2001 Super Bowl, guaranteed the move by refusing to renegotiate his contract. He was to earn $7 million this season and count $8.95 million against the salary cap. The release gives Collins time to find a new team for next season. The Giants have said they will sign a veteran quarterback who might start the season to pave the way for Manning.

With a month until the NBA season, players and owners don't sound much closer to a labor deal than they did when the lockout began. They're so far apart on money they decided to leave it alone Saturday and focused mainly on the salary cap. They couldn't solve that one, either. "I wouldn't say there was any progress. What happened was, they put some concepts up, we put some concepts up, and we're still miles apart," union executive director Billy Hunter said. "There's a huge bridge, gap, that I don't know if we're going to be able to close it or not. " The sides...

Free agency opens on Tuesday at 4 p.m., and NFL teams were just given the final salary cap for the 2012 season: $120.6 million. That number is essentially the same as last year, when the cap was $120.375 million, but it was not expected that there would be much of a change. The cap is expected to make a big jump in two years, the when league does new television deals with a couple of its broadcast partners; the cap is tied to television revenue. NFL.com has also reported the final franchise-tag numbers for each position; receiver Wes...

The Patriots signed first-round draft pick Chandler Jones Wednesday. Jones, the 21st overall pick out of Syracuse, is a 6-foot-5-inch, 265-pound pass rusher whom the Patriots selected after moving up from 27th by trading with the Bengals. A three-year starter with the Orange, Jones played in just seven games last fall after suffering a leg injury against Wake Forest. He had four sacks and 39 tackles. Financial terms were not released, but by the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, first-round picks receive four-year contracts with a team option for a fifth.

MINNEAPOLIS — The NFL Players Association filed a complaint in federal court Wednesday, accusing the league of colluding to impose a secret salary cap during the uncapped 2010 season. The claim was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, which oversees the Reggie White settlement covering NFL labor matters. The complaint claims a ‘‘conspiracy" to set a $123 million salary cap for the 2010 season, when owners did not have the authority to do so. The Cowboys and Redskins have had their future salary caps lowered for overspending in 2010,...

An arbitrator upheld the NFL's salary cap reductions on the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for this season and next. Stephen Burbank ruled Tuesday in favor of the league and dismissed the grievances by both teams. The Redskins lost $36 million over two years. The Cowboys lost $10 million for overloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season despite league warnings about such maneuvering. The Cowboys and Redskins, who filed their grievances against the league and players' association, said in a joint statement they would "abide by the arbitrator's decision to dismiss.

Peter Chiarelli made it clear Friday afternoon, amid the solemn end-of-season locker cleanout at the Garden, that a first-round knockout in the playoffs won't compel him to make wholesale roster changes. So if anyone is conjuring up a big move - like, say, wishing Tim Thomas bon voyage - that ship isn't likely to sail. "I've seen speculation about us moving a goaltender," noted the Bruins general manager, "but I am not inclined to do that. " Now, "not inclined" in April can lead to lengthy, sincere explanations over the summer about why another club made an...

The Phoenix Coyotes roused a dormant fan base with an energetic season-ending burst that carried into the playoffs. Lunch-pail likable and brilliantly resilient, they have made hockey cool in the desert again and given the NHL playoffs a distinctive new vibe by reaching the second round for the first time in a quarter century. And they're not alone. After years of the same handful of teams competing for the Cup, Lord Stanley's sterling mug has some new pursuers. Red Wings, Canucks, Blackhawks, Bruins — they're all gone.

While state police and the FBI start a wiretapping probe into the Saints and general manager Mickey Loomis, assistant head coach Joe Vitt is calling the allegations that Loomis had his Superdome booth wired so he could listen to opposing coaches "ludicrous. " "It's absolutely ludicrous. It's impossible," Vitt said Tuesday. "I've never heard of it before. That's something from ‘Star Wars.' When I first heard something about it being a wiretap, I thought they were talking about Sammy "the Bull" Gravano or something.

Thierry Henry says Major League Soccer will not attract players from Europe while they are at the peak of their careers as long as teams are forced to operate under a salary cap. The former France striker joined New York Red Bulls last year from Barcelona but, like David Beckham, only switched to the United States when he was well into his 30s as a so-called Designated Player. Clubs can sign three DPs on top of the salary cap, a situation the former Arsenal and Barcelona player said put MLS teams at a disadvantage.

A year ago at this time, NFL fans were focused on courts rather than fields as the lockout was in full swing following a hearing in a Minnesota federal court. Everyone can agree: Thank goodness that's long over. But the question that continues to loom - and likely will for some time - is, did the game even need the lockout, which was triggered when the NFL Players Association walked out of federal mediation March 11, 2011? Because the way things are going, the players look like they didn't gain anything.