Saints violate NFL Bounty rules, paid bonuses to injure players

[meStevo]

Figured this probably deserves its own thread...

For three years administered by Gregg Williams the Saints defense operated a pay for performance or bounty program that awarded players $1000 to knock a player out of the game, with bonuses for them needing to be taken off with assistance. Saints GM as well as coach knew about the program but did not stop it, even though owner Benson told the GM to put and end to it at one point. Before their game with the Vikings, Vilma put up $10k for whomever could knock out Favre. The fund for these awards was funded by 22-27 players, and Gregg Williams.

Talking heads are expecting punishment in excess of the $500k and 1st rd pick that the Patriots were levied for spygate.

Without a 1st Rd pick this year, PFT has suggested that perhaps the Saints could lose the use of their franchise tag which would make Drew Brees a free agent since the two sides are believed to be $5m/year apart.

More to come.


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[Rey]

The reality is that this kind of thing has always been around. it's a huge deal because it's not legal in the nfl and what it will mean to the saints on what you mentioned above. I was shocked that they were caught but not surprised the saints were doing this. And it's being reported that Sean Payton knew of this but did nothing to stop it.

 

[meStevo]

Tony Dungy blames a hit on Manning against the Redskins in 2006 when Gregg Williams was said to have a similar program for Manning's current neck problems.

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[Rey]

I don't doubt this guy has always done this with his defenses. Although I must admit,I liked it when it was done against Favre in the NFC championship game

 

[salsadancer7]

This is getting ALOT of attenrion on Twitter and the talk shows... Mort, SIs Peter King, Schefter....

 

[satjay]

I don't doubt this guy has always done this with his defenses. Although I must admit,I liked it when it was done against Favre in the NFC championship game

Sounds like there was some cash on the table for that game on the person that would take favre out

 

[Rey]

This is getting ALOT of attenrion on Twitter and the talk shows... Mort, SIs Peter King, Schefter....

We ain't seen nothing yet. Espn is going to hype this up big time. They're already saying how this is going to be bigger than spy gate.

 

[meStevo]

Justifiably so IMO, I think a lot of fans don't understand how serious this is. When Gregg Williams is suspended and more than $1m in fines are doled out in addition to forfeiture of draft picks only then will many understand IMO.

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[meStevo]

Will affect certainly more than just the Saints, the obvious hit is to the Rams, who will certainly lose their defensive coordinator for a few (4-6 IMO) games. Another though is the Raiders, who's head coach is the former defensive backs coach who may have lied about the program in the past when it was alleged to be happening but the league could uncover no evidence of it in interviews... Now that they have evidence it will be interesting to see how far they go to punish those they believe covered it up and lied to them about it.


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[salsadancer7]

Will affect certainly more than just the Saints, the obvious hit is to the Rams, who will certainly lose their defensive coordinator for a few (4-6 IMO) games. Another though is the Raiders, who's head coach is the former defensive backs coach who may have lied about the program in the past when it was alleged to be happening but the league could uncover no evidence of it in interviews... Now that they have evidence it will be interesting to see how far they go to punish those they believe covered it up and lied to them about it.

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Yep....was gonna mention Dennis Allen, this could be very ugly. I am worried because they have asked him about..and he has stuck to "no comment".

 

[meStevo]

After an article or two detailing it and a former player publicly confirming it, the Redskins are also being investigated for the bounty system they had in place while Gregg Williams was their DC.

 

[salsadancer7]

This is gonna get ugly fast. I see some heavy fines, lost draft picks and some serious fine.

 

[cybok0]

Quite frankly I don't think this is worse than spygate, football players are paid to hit players and most players play to hurt their opponent, so they are paying the players to do something they are already getting paid to do.

You hit people in the game as hard as you can, the coaches are giving them a incentive to do it harder at all times while with spygate the coaches and team cheated.

Now I do think they will get fined and maybe suspended because they broke the rules but imho it's not worse than spygate.

 

[Ronnie-]

This is gonna get ugly fast. I see some heavy fines, lost draft picks and some serious fine.

Heavy fines AND serious fines? Wow. This WILL get ugly. .



On a serious note. I am sure this Is not the first time this has happened or the first team, but there should be serious repercussions from this. It's a violent sport but there shouldn't be actual "violence" involved.

Put out a hit to hurt someone in the normal world and see what happens. You would go to jail.
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[meStevo]

WSJ says unprecedented suspensions coming, Saints coach and GM could miss half the season, fines will be high, and who knows how long they'll hit Gregg Williams for, the season? Also, could suspend 'ring leader' players.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

After an article or two detailing it and a former player publicly confirming it, the Redskins are also being investigated for the bounty system they had in place while Gregg Williams was their DC.

Supposedly the Buffalo Bills also had such a bounty in place when Gregg Williams was with them. It sounds like he needs a lifetime ban from the NFL.

 

[Ronnie-]

Sounds like he may need criminal charges.

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[meStevo]

The people most at risk for criminal charges in this are any players that are confirmed to have taken money and not reported it on their taxes.

 

[Hart5150]

Quite frankly I don't think this is worse than spygate, football players are paid to hit players and most players play to hurt their opponent, so they are paying the players to do something they are already getting paid to do.

You hit people in the game as hard as you can, the coaches are giving them a incentive to do it harder at all times while with spygate the coaches and team cheated.

Now I do think they will get fined and maybe suspended because they broke the rules but imho it's not worse than spygate.

The ignorance that comes from the keyboards of Steelers fan amazes me, but I guess it shouldn't.

 

[meStevo]

Most people that think it's not worse than spygate just don't understand the problem. It's not just 'oh, they were paying each other to do their job'. cybok0 does a good job of representing the Steelers' view... notice he said hit a bunch of times, and not tackle. That's Steeler football for ya.

It's...

- Clearly violating a number of league rules
- Successfully covering up the program when it was investigated prior (which means they likely have a number of people caught lying to the league)
- Compensation outside of the salary cap. We've seen relatively benign versions of this in the past... Packers players getting other players DVDs from Best Buy, Vermeil betting Morten Andersen a bottle of wine
- Cash incentive to injure players in the era of player safety

Spygate did what to whom exactly? Videotaped a walkthrough? Still have to play the game... meanwhile this went on for YEARS, and apparently at multiple franchises.

The punishment for this could make spygate look like a tap on the wrist.