The uncertainty of Alex Smith has cast a black cloud over the Redskins organization - both from a positional and salary cap standpoint.
If Smith does not play another down for the Redskins, he’s still guaranteed an additional $31 million dollars. If the Redskins were to release him after June 1 2019, it would count $20.4 million in dead money for 2019 and $32.2 million in dead money for 2020. If they released him prior to June 1st 2019, all $52.6 million would hit the cap in 2019.
There is also rumor of an insurance policy the team took out on Smith to give them a little protection against something like this injury we saw, but reports have this taking effect in 2020, not this next spring.