Four players file bounty appeals with NFL, seek Goodell's removal as arbitrator

NEW ORLEANS -- All four players punished in the NFL's bounty investigation have filed appeals with the league. People familiar with the situation say the players have asked commissioner Roger Goodell to remove himself as arbitrator because they do not believe he can be impartial.

One of the people also said New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma expects to play at Tampa Bay on Oct. 21 while his appeal is pending. The people spoke to the Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because the appeals were filed as private documents with the league.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed Friday that all four players had filed appeals, but said the league would decline comment on the substance of those documents.

It's the latest round of appeals by the players.

About a month ago, a three-member appeal panel created by the NFL's collective bargaining agreement vacated initial disciplinary rulings handed down by Goodell. Then Tuesday, the commissioner upheld his initial suspensions of Vilma and Saints defensive end Will Smith, and revised his suspensions of Cleveland Browns linebacker and former Saint Scott Fujita and free-agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove.

Vilma has been on the Saints' physically unable to perform list while continuing his comeback from offseason surgery on his left knee, but may be activated after the first six weeks of the regular season. Goodell said Vilma could be paid for his time on New Orleans' PUP list. New Orleans has a bye this week.

Vilma remains suspended for the season, while Smith remains suspended four games. Hargrove's suspension was reduced from eight to seven games and Fujita's was cut from three games to one.

In effect, Hargrove now faces a two-game ban because his initial eight-game suspension was reduced by one and he was given credit for five games missed as a free agent after he was cut by Green Bay in the preseason.

The appeals filed Friday are only the latest of many maneuvers in a contentious back-and-forth involving the players, the NFL Players Association and the league office.

Vilma has a related defamation case pending against Goodell in federal court in New Orleans.

In addition, Vilma and the NFLPA, which is representing the other three players, could ask U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan to revisit their earlier legal challenge of the suspensions.

The union and Vilma would have to refile those requests with Berrigan, who placed the matter on indefinite hold when the three-member NFL appeal panel vacated the initial suspensions on technical grounds and informed Goodell that he had to clarify his basis for the punishment.

The panel, which did not address the merits of the investigation, said it needed to be clear that Goodell's disciplinary decisions in the Saints' cash-for-hits pool pertained exclusively to conduct detrimental to football, and not salary cap violations, which would have to be handled by an arbitrator other than the commissioner.

Berrigan has stated that she found the NFL's disciplinary process unfair and that she would be inclined to grant Vilma at least a temporary restraining order if she believed she had jurisdiction on the matter.

However, Berrigan also has stated that she is hesitant to rule until she is certain the players have exhausted all possible remedies available to them through the NFL's labor agreement. She has further stressed that all parties would be wise to settle the matter out of court, but a federal magistrate has had little success getting meaningful settlement talks moving.

The four players were implicated in what the NFL said was a bounty pool run by former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and paid improper cash bonuses for hits that injured opponents. The players have acknowledged a pool but denied they intended to injure anyone. Goodell has been unmoved by the players' distinction regarding intent, outlining several instances in which Williams made notations of player rewards due for hits that knocked opponents out of games.

Williams, now with St. Louis, has cooperated with the league's investigation but is currently suspended indefinitely. Saints head coach Sean Payton is suspended for the season, general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and assistant head coach Joe Vitt six games. They were punished separately from the players and all are serving out their punishment.

By contrast, the players and their union have put up intense resistance for the past half-year with no sign of letting up.

Even after his suspension was reduced this week, Fujita was harshly critical of Goodell, calling the "condescending tone" of his disciplinary letter unproductive, accusing the commissioner of misusing his power and questioning Goodell's record on player safety.

"The commissioner says he is disappointed in me," Fujita said Wednesday. "The truth is, I'm disappointed in him."

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain receives 180 days in jail, appeals

Posted: 04:15 PM ET May 17, 2012

By Will Brinson | Senior NFL Blogger

A judge in Decatur, Ala., found Rolando McClain guilty on three different charges Thursday and sentenced the Oakland linebacker to 180 days in jail.

McClain was also ordered to pay a $500 fine for each of the four charges -- Reckless Endangerment, Third-Degree Assault, Menacing and Discharging a Firearm -- totaling $2,000 in fines.

According to WAAYTV.COM, McClain has been freed on bail and can begin serving his prison sentence on June 1.

The alleged victim, Rishard Tapscott, claims that he was beaten by McClain and friend Jarodiaus Willingham.

"[McClain] just kept repeating he'd kill me, he'd blow my [bleep]ing head off," Tapscott testified according to WAAYTV.com.

According to Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune, McClain's lawyer, Harvey Steinberg, called the verdict from the Alabama judge "meaningless" and said that McClain will appeal. Steinberg also said that "the process starts all over again" now.

Here's the thing though: the NFL won't think that the verdict is meaningless, and they certainly won't think that testimony and video that emerged from McClain's trial are meaningless. And if McClain's "process" starts all over, it's possible that this will hang over his head for much of the summer, depending on how quickly the judge can hear his appeal.

Regardless of the outcome of his appeal, McClain already looks like a prime candidate for some sort of suspension from Roger Goodell, and McClain would miss part of the 2012 NFL season even if he began serving his jail time today.

Tags: Rolando McClain, Oakland Raiders, NFL

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Players urge federal appeals court to declare lockout illegal

ST. LOUIS -- NFL players urged a federal appeals court Friday to declare the lockout illegal, saying the league had no right to impose a work stoppage that is now approaching three months with no sign of a deal that will save the 2011 season.

In a courtroom packed with some 200 people, including out-of-work players and retirees on folding chairs brought in to handle the crowd, attorneys on both sides of the bitter labor fight got roughly 30 minutes each to make their cases.

Ted Olson, the lawyer for the players, says 'we're asking for a preliminary injunction for a short period of time.' (Getty Images) The appeal centers on the lockout that began hours after months of labor talks fell apart March 11, the players' union dissolved and the fight ended up in federal court. The NFL contends the union decertification was a sham meant to gain leverage in the talks and the conflict remains subject to labor law.

The players argue that antitrust laws apply and the lockout put in place under labor law needs to be put on hold, as it was in April by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in Minnesota.

"We're asking for a preliminary injunction for a short period of time," the players' counsel, Theodore Olson, said in the hushed courtroom. "We're simply asking that the laws of the U.S. be respected."

The arguments came before a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals whose two earlier 2-1 decisions have sided with the league and upheld the lockout. The panel took the arguments under advisement with one judge, Kermit Bye, saying only that a ruling would come in "due course" and he suggested the two sides figure things out.

"We wouldn't be all that hurt if you go out and settle that case," Bye said with a smile as he closed the 68-minute hearing. "We will keep with our business, and if that ends up with a decision, it's probably something both sides aren't going to like."

The league is starting to see the effects of the lockout, with furloughs and other recent moneysaving steps. Training camps traditionally start in late July and the first preseason game is little more than two months away.

The hearing has been seen as pivotal in the dispute over how to share the NFL's $9 billion in annual revenue, and the turnout included NFL Players Association leader DeMaurice Smith and two dozen players, including Green Bay's Cullen Jenkins, the Jets' Tony Richardson and Giants standout Osi Umenyiora.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spent Friday in Fort Bragg, N.C., a league spokesman tweeting that Goodell isn't a lawyer and "wouldn't have added much to the legal proceedings." Jets owner Woody Johnson was at the hearing.

Paul Clement, an attorney representing the NFL, waved off a reporter's question about whether the NFL had the upper hand.

"As we tried to make clear in there, we think the lockout is actually the best way to get players back on the field," said Clement, who like Olson is a former U.S. solicitor general. "I think people understand that this will be resolved; the resolution will include a collective bargaining agreement. And the fastest way to get there is to get the antitrust laws, which were just a misfit in this context, out of the picture."

The hearing was sometimes dense as Olson and Clement laid out arguments over Nelson's April 25 decision to lift the lockout on the grounds that it was illegal and the players suffering irreparable harm. The 8th Circuit - seen as a more conservative, business-friendly venue for the NFL than the federal courts in Minnesota - put her ruling on hold April 29 and reaffirmed its decision May 16.

Judges Steven Colloton and Duane Benton wrote for the majority then that "the league has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits." Bye dissented both times, favoring the players.

Colloton and Benton - appointed by Republican President George W. Bush - were outspoken Friday, peppering Olson and Clement with requests to elaborate on legal points and precedents. Bye, an appointee of President Clinton, a Democrat, offered the opening welcome to the crowded gallery, but remained mostly quiet.

Clement insisted the Norris-LaGuardia Act bars court injunctions in cases arising from a labor dispute, which he maintained is in play, and said Nelson's decision runs afoul of it.

"Ultimately, collective bargaining is a much better way to resolve these disputes than antitrust litigation," Clement said.

Olson countered that the act, which dates to the Depression, didn't apply without organized labor activity -- and the players union legally dissolved before the court fight, which includes a still pending federal antitrust lawsuit filed by 10 players, including Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

"The players are perfectly happy to be protected by antitrust laws," Olson said. He denied the decertification was a negotiating tactic, adding the players are barred from engaging in collective bargaining after their decision.

"They did every step necessary" to dissolve the union, Olson said. "They made a significant choice, which has significant effects under labor law."

Olson also argued his clients continue to be harmed financially by the lockout. Clement, asked by Bye about that issue, refused to concede Olson's claim and said "any evidentiary hearing before the court would bear that out" - though he didn't think it necessary.

The two sides met for 16 days before talks fell apart. A federal magistrate has also held six days of mediation with the two sides, and he was on hand with them again during three days of discussions near Chicago.

Ernie Conwell, a former Rams and Saints tight end, said the players were at the negotiating table all those times but "didn't have a willing participant" in the NFL. And he scoffed at Clement's suggestion that players are enjoying more recreational time with the lockout.

"Come on," said Conwell, now a players' representative. "There is a lot of stress on these guys not knowing what the future holds for them. And the league understands that - that's why the lockout is in place."

Brady said during halftime of a charity touch football game at Harvard that he's still hopeful that there will be a resolution soon, though he acknowledged that "nobody knows."

"Everyone is working hard toward a great outcome," the Patriots quarterback said. "And I'm confident that a lot of reasonable people will come to a very reasonable agreement."

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