Remember those crushing, retirement-making playoff hits by Saints defenders on Kurt Warner and Brett Favre? It turns out there were dollar signs attached.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, an NFL investigation revealed that the New Orleans Saints maintained a “bounty” program, openly paying their defensive players for injuring and/or knocking key players on opposing offenses out of the game. According to Schefter, this bounty program was masterminded by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and with the knowledge of several other defensive coaches on staff.
That a couch would subtly encourage players to win “by any means necessary” isn’t that surprising in any level of competitive football. But this bounty program is shocking in its overtness. And according to Peter King, knowledge of the scheme went all the way up to the top of the organization.
@SI_PeterKing: NFL: Saints owner Tom Benson directed GM Mickey Loomis that bounty program be discontinued. NFL says Loomis did not follow Benson’s orders.
The Saints are already in a difficult position as a franchise, mired in contract negotiations with Drew Brees. Naturally they want to keep their franchise icon, but pay him too much and they may handicap their effort to restock and reload their team. Now, they may be doubly handicapped, as Schefter points out:
@AdamSchefter: Discipline for the Saints could include fines, suspensions and forfeiture of draft choices.
Roger Goodell, acting as one-man NFL Player Safety Police, will very likely come down hard on this matter, and it’s very possible that the damage spreads beyond the Saints. If Gregg Williams is found to be culpable, Goodell could extend punishment toward his new employers in St Louis as well. If that happens, or is even threatened, Jeff Fisher could be put in a very uncomfortable position of having to choose whether to defend a personal friend, or subtly encourage him to step away from the team and stand alone in Goodell’s judgement.
The fallout will extend to Williams’ assistants in New Orleans over the last few years as well, potentially dealing a career-changing blow to their futures. For example, that could include new Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen, a defensive backs coach under Williams until 2010. We won’t know until more details come out from this investigation.
