The NFL has reportedly come down with swift and harsh punishment on the New Orleans Saints after exposing the organization for running a bounty system.
New Orleans Saints Penalty: NFL comes down hard on Sean Payton and company
Sean Payton and Greg Williams, who is now with the St. Louis Rams, were each suspended. Payton's suspension begins April 1 and is for one season with pay, which is about $7 million.. Williams, meanwhile, will be suspended indefinitely, according to Adam Schefter. Williams will be reviewed again after the 2012 season and will find out his long term future in the league.
The Saints were also forced to forfeit their second round pick in both the 2012 and 2013 drafts and were fined $500,000. Mickey Loomis, the team’s general manager, will be suspended for the first eight games of the regular season and was also fined $500,000. Assistant coach Joe Vitt will be suspended for the first six games of the regular season without pay and fined $100,000.
“When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff, and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.
In addition to the indirect message sent to the rest of the league with these punishments, Goodell issued a statement to all of the NFL teams in which he instructed all teams to ensure that no such programs exist in their organizations. The commissioner made clear that the punishments were not only a result of the bounty program itself, but for the false denial of the program by Payon and his encouragement of his assistants to do the same, impeding the league’s investigation into the matter. But most importantly, the bounty program was in direct opposition to player safety, something Goodell has stressed during his time as commissioner.
“Bounty programs have no place in our game,” Goodell said in the statement. “They are incompatible with our efforts to promote sportsmanship, fair play, and player safety.”
That message will likely be sent to players as well.
“While I will not address player conduct at this time, I am profoundly troubled by the fact that players - including leaders among the defensive players - embraced this program so enthusiastically and participated with what appears to have been a deliberate lack of concern for the well-being of their fellow players,” Goodell said.
The Saints will now be without a draft pick until the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. And with Payton’s suspension beginning April 1, the team will be without its head coach in the war room.
UPDATE: Pete Carmichael will replace Sean Payton as head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the 2012 season, according to Tony Softli.
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