NFL Suspends Four Players in Saints' Bountygate

Brees might as well holdout the entire year. Edit - realized half those guys are with new teams.

 

Damn...Vilma for the entire season? Pretty harsh. It's not clear if the players were part of the cover up. That's what got Peyton and Williams booted. If the players weren't part of that, why would any of them get the same punishment?

 

they were just following orders, sir!

 

I'll be interested to see the evidence against them.

 

"What does that mean? What did we do wrong? We did nothing wrong. "

"I'm being charged with a crime? Is that what this is? I'm being charged with a crime? This is funny. That's what this is. This is... "

Guilty of CONDUCT UNBECOMING <s>A MARINE</s> AN NFL PLAYER.

 

Damn talk about a smackdown.

 

wow only four surprising

 

Good thing for the Saints that they signed Curtis Lofton. That will help with the loss of Vilma.

 

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_FUyu3csPq0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Bring down the hammer!

Although really, the only loss for the Saints will be Smith. They had to be(were) expecting this and signed some LBs - Curtis Lofton, Chris Chamberlain, & David Hawthorne.

 

If Vilma for the year and Smith for 4 games is all the Saints have to deal with as far as player suspensions, I'll say they got off pretty easy. Lofton and Hawthorne are good LBs that will ease the pain of losing Vilma and Dunbar.

Losing Payton for the year is going to hurt a lot more.

 

vilma should go play cfl for a year.

 

Former NFL player, and ESPN analyst admits to paying bounties.

Cris Carter admits to bounties

Former Minnesota Vikings All-Pro receiver Cris Carter says he put "bounties" on opposing players as a form of protection during his 16-year NFL career.
Carter, currently an ESPN NFL analyst, said on "Hill and Schlereth" on ESPN Radio on Tuesday night that he would offer money to teammates to take out players Carter thought were trying to take him out.

“ Bill Romanowski -- he told me he was going to take me out before the game, warmups. No problem. (He said,) 'I'm gonna end your career Carter.' No problem. I put a little change on his head before the game. Protect myself. Protect my family."

"I'm guilty of (bounties) -- I mean first time I've ever admitted it -- but I put a bounty on guys before," Carter told the show. "I put bounties on guys. If a guy tries to take me out, a guy takes a cheap shot on me? I put a bounty on him right now!"

When asked if the bounties were financial, Carter said: "Absolutely."
Carter, a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist for the last five years, said it was a matter of protecting himself from players at a different position, such as linebacker.

"I'd tell one of them guards, 'Hey man this dude is after me, man' " Carter said.

The 46-year-old told of former Pro Bowl linebacker Bill Romanowski, then with the Denver Broncos, threatening to hurt him in pregame warmups.

"Bill Romanowski -- he told me he was going to take me out before the game, warmups. No problem. (He said,) 'I'm gonna end your career Carter.' No problem. "I put a little change on his head before the game. Protect myself. Protect my family. That's the league that I grew up in."

When asked if he was the only one doing that, Carter responded: "Hell, no.
"Listen, on the football field you only got certain protection and your teammates are part of that protection. It's built in and if I'm playing a certain position where I can't protect myself -- how can the quarterback protect himself? But for his teammates to stand up and do something," Carter said.

"There are certain positions you can't protect yourself.
"The center? How can he protect himself? He's snapping the ball every time. Like if someone is taking a cheap shot on him? No problem. We've got a way to work that out."

Carter's comments come one day after New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and three others appealed league-mandated suspensions for their alleged roles in that team's three-year bounty program.

An NFL investigation determined the Saints ran a bounty system from 2009 to 2011 that offered thousands of dollars to players for big hits that knocked opponents out of games. In March, Goodell suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for all of next season without pay, suspended former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely and levied other penalties against the club.

But Carter told "Hill and Schlereth" that during his playing days bounties weren't meant to purposefully injure other players.

" ... But you have to realize the league we grew up in, the bounty was based on protection, or a big hit, excitement or for helping your team win. It wasn't to maim or hurt the dude," said Carter, who retired from the NFL following the 2002 season. "When a guy said he was going to hurt me, my recourse was to put a bounty on him to make sure."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7...minnesota-vikings-admits-authorizing-bounties

 

Jonathan Vilma is suing Roger Goodell

 

Called it.

Wonder if anyone will be joining him.

 

Didn't feel like reading that boring legal document. But I saw defamatory statements as the reason? I literally read one line, reading is for suckers, but nobody in the public eye wins for that jabronari do they?

 

You didn't call it actaully lol. You said he'd sue Roger for going overboard on him and that what he did might not have been a violation of the rules.

Vilma isn't suing him for going overboard, he's suing him for slander and libel, claiming that he had no role in the bounty program and knew nothing about it. The lawsuit claims that all the allegations are false and that his reputation is tainted forever by it.

 

Yes, the lawsuit is for libel and slander.

Basically if the NFL can provide evidence that he was involved in the bounty program he has no case whatsoever.