Giants owner John Mara has become one of the NFL's more prominent owners. In addition to the Giants' recent success, he emerged as an influential presence in negotiations with the NFLPA during the lockout last year and also happens to be the chairman of the NFL Management Committee.

And it was that committee that handed out the heavy penalties to the Washington Redskins (a $36-million salary cap hit over the next two seasons) and Dallas Cowboys (a $10-million cap hit over the next two seasons) for the way they re-structured contracts during the uncapped 2010 season, essentially front-loading contracts to take advantage of the uncapped year and save cap room in future years.

But Mara thinks the penalties could've been harsher for his NFC East rivals.

"I thought the penalties imposed were proper," Mara told ESPN.com's Dan Graziano yesterday before the start of today's NFL's annual meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. "What they did was in violation of the spirit of the salary cap. They attempted to take advantage of a one-year loophole, and quite frankly, I think they're lucky they didn't lose draft picks."

However, the Redskins and Cowboys didn't actually break any written rules and have filed a grievance against the NFL and the NFLPA. Mara is confident the teams' appeal won't win out, claiming the issue was brought up in meetings and the owners agreed they wouldn't engage in such behavior.

"We all knew the cap would come back," Mara said. "We were not going to enter into any agreement with the NFLPA if there was not a salary cap in it."

When asked whether the c-word -- collusion -- may apply to the situation Mara emphatically denied it.

"This has nothing to do with collusion," he said. "It has to do with teams attempting to gain a competitive advantage through a loophole in the system. They attempted to take advantage of it knowing full well there would be consequences. There was nothing wrong with the individual contracts, but when you look at the overall scope of what they did, they were trying to take advantage and they were told not to."

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Mara also poked fun at the Jets' recent signing of backup quarterback Tim Tebow and the hysteria that as swept the region with his looming arrival.

"I don't know," Mara told the New York Daily News yesterday when asked if the metro area can handle both Tebow and the defending Super Bowl Champion Giants. "But the David Carr press conference will be tomorrow afternoon, too."

Carr, of course, recently re-signed with the Giants to return as Eli Manning's backup. And as of now, there is no presser scheduled for Carr today.

Jorge Castillo: jcastillo@starledger.com; twitter.com/jorgeccastillo