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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Goodell to meet with Vilma, other players previously suspended in bounty scandal

Jonathan Vilma was on the sideline during the Saints' season-opening loss to the Redskins. (AP)

NEW ORLEANS -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and four players whose suspensions in connection with the bounty investigation were recently lifted by an appeals panel have agreed to new meetings on the matter.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday no specific dates have been set for the meetings. An attorney for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma said his client hoped to meet with the commissioner by early next week.

The NFL Players Association, which is representing Saints defensive end Will Smith, Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita and free-agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, did not immediately comment.

Goodell is reconsidering whether to hand down revised suspensions for the four players who had been punished in an alleged pay-for-pain pool offering cash bonuses for hits that injured opponents.

Ginsberg said Vilma's meeting would not be considered a hearing, but would be more akin to preliminary fact-finding meetings that occur at the outset of the disciplinary process outlined by the NFL's collective bargaining agreement.

"We expect to meet with commissioner Goodell and hopefully have a full, honest exchange of information and come to a just resolution," Ginsberg said.

He was not sure whether Vilma would meet with Goodell individually or at the same time as the other three players represented by the NFLPA.

The three-member panel that lifted the four players' suspensions on Friday did not permanently void them or address the merits of the bounty probe. Rather, it asked Goodell to start the disciplinary process over after ruling it was unclear whether he followed proper procedures in disciplining the players the first time.

It found that it was not clear whether part of Goodell's punishment stemmed from the money the players were found to have received. The panel said punishment relating to financial violations of the league collective bargaining agreement must be heard by an arbitrator other than Goodell.

The panel also said Goodell can only serve as the arbitrator for punishments relating directly to some intent to injure opponents, which would be classified as conduct detrimental to the game.

Vilma and several current and former Saints teammates, as well as suspended assistant head coach Joe Vitt, have already testified in a related federal case that the Saints operated only a performance pool for big plays and that no one ever intended to injure an opposing player.

Their testimony conflicted with the NFL's earlier findings that specific bounties were place on high profile quarterbacks including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner in the 2009-10 playoffs.

Smith was able to return to action for the Saints' regular-season opener on Sunday, a 40-32 loss to the Washington Redskins. He was the only of the four reinstated players who took the field. Fujita sat out after not practicing the week leading up to Cleveland's opening 17-16 loss to Philadelphia. Hargrove is not with a team and Vilma is still working his way back from offseason left knee surgery.

The Saints have placed Vlima on the physically unable to perform list, meaning he cannot play at least through the first six games, even if he receives no new suspension.

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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NFL denies retractions of key witnesses in Saints bounty probe

Roger Goodell denies placing gag orders on Saints employees. (AP)

NEW ORLEANS -- The NFL is denying accusations that it covered up retractions made by key witnesses in its bounty investigation, or that Commissioner Roger Goodell has placed gag orders on Saints employees and others who could help punished players clear their names.

Lawyer Peter Ginsberg, who represents suspended Saints player Jonathan Vilma, made the accusations when punished players appeared earlier this week for an appeal hearing, a full transcript of which has been obtained by the Associated Press.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello says claims of a gag order are "completely untrue," and that no potential witnesses were instructed by the league to stay away from Monday's hearing.

The transcript also shows that the NFL Players Association formally asked Goodell to recuse himself from ongoing appeal proceedings, contending that he is incapable of ruling "without the appearance of bias."

"The commissioner has publicly appeared on television and in other (forums) defending the discipline," NFLPA attorney Jeffrey Kessler said. "We would ask that the commissioner step down, to the extent that these proceedings continue, as the decision maker and that a neutral decision maker be appointed in his place."

The early portions of the transcript detail a series of verbal jousts that Ginsberg sought to deliver to the commissioner before leaving the appeal hearing early in protest.

In discussing witnesses he has been unable to speak with, Ginsberg told Goodell, "You have made threats to keep them from talking to us. You have refused to have them even participate in today's proceedings."

Ginsberg and the NFLPA had asked the NFL to compel several witnesses to appear at the appeal hearing, including Saints head coach Sean Payton, assistant head coach Joe Vitt, general manager Mickey Loomis, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and former defensive assistant Mike Cerullo.

While the NFL declined to require anyone to attend the hearing, Aiello said the players and their representatives "were free to bring any witnesses of their choosing, including any coaches if they agreed to appear."

Ginsberg further asserted that Williams and Cerullo offered retractions of some of their initial statements to the NFL in the investigation, and that the league has neglected to share that information. Aiello denied such retractions were ever made.

Ginsberg also accused the NFL of distorting evidence introduced at the appeals hearing, including an email from marketing agent Mike Ornstein to Williams, who the NFL says ran a bounty program from 2009 to 2011.

In the email, Ornstein tells Williams he gave him "1,500 last week, I will give you another 1,500 the next four game (sic) and the final 2,000 the last 4." Ginsberg asserts that the NFL included the email as evidence even after Ornstein told Goodell the email related to a Gregg Williams charity.

The NFL declined to comment beyond its assertion in Monday's hearing that the total amount of money the email discusses - $5,000 - matches the amount listed next to Ornstein's name on a note outlining pledges made as "seed money" to a performance incentive pool that rewarded big plays as well as injurious hits.

Ginsberg told the commissioner he imposed a "misplaced punishment" which "cast a shadow not only on Mr. Vilma personally and professionally, but, I dare say, on the NFL and on the office of the commissioner in engaging in these proceedings."

He then concluded his statement by urging Goodell to "rescind any punishment against Mr. Vilma and to apologize in public for what you have done."

Not long after making those statements on the record, Ginsberg, who is also representing Vilma in a separate defamation lawsuit against Goodell in federal court in New Orleans, left the hearing with Vilma in protest, They did not return for an afternoon session.

Later in the hearing, Kessler said the remaining three punished players -- Saints defensive end Will Smith, Green Bay defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, and linebacker Scott Fujita -- would listen to the remainder of the hearing, but would decline to participate because they believed the proceeding lacked elements required to meet the standard of a "fair hearing" under the NFL's current labor agreement.

"The essence of that hearing contains certain matters that are being denied to the players here," Kessler said. "In particular, we're not being given the opportunity to confront and cross-examine the actual witnesses who have evidence on this."

Kessler made an additional point that the NFL has already stated publicly that Williams, the defensive coordinator, ran the Saints' incentive pool, and that punishing employees for something their employers instructed them to do is "contrary to established legal principles."

The NFL continued its portion of the hearing in which it reviewed evidence against the players.

Goodell did not recuse himself and it did not appear he would consider doing so after league attorney Adolpho Birch responded to Kessler that an arbitrator already ruled Goodell has the authority to hear the appeal.

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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Arbitrator backs NFL in bounty case, affirms Goodell's disciplinary power

Monday June 04, 2012 - 11:00 AM

Roger Goodell's disciplinary powers are being challenged by the NFLPA. (AP)

NEW YORK -- An arbitrator ruled Monday that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has the authority to discipline New Orleans Saints players for their role in a bounty system.

The NFL Players Association challenged Goodell's power to impose penalties for what the league says was a three-year bounty program that targeted specific players. Stephen Burbank, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, took only five days to determine that Goodell has the power to punish the players under the collective bargaining agreement reached last August to end the lockout. The news was first reported by CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman

Goodell suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the entire 2012 season and teammate Will Smith for four games. Former Saints defensive end Anthony Hargrove, now with Green Bay, was suspended for eight games, while linebacker Scott Fujita, now with Cleveland, was docked three games.

Those players have appealed the suspensions. And the players' union said Monday it expects to appeal Burbank's decision because it believes salary cap violations are involved in the payment. That would give Burbank the authority to rule on penalizing any players involved.

Burbank did, however, retain temporary jurisdiction on Hargrove's role and asked Goodell for more information on Hargrove's "alleged participation."

Burbank "invited the commissioner to clarify the precise basis for his discipline of Mr. Hargrove who, among other things, was found to have lied to the league's investigators and obstructed their investigation," the NFL said in a statement.

The union said in a statement it "believes that the players are entitled to neutral arbitration of these issues under the CBA and will continue to fight for that principle and to protect the fair due process rights of all players." The NFLPA noted Burbank wrote that "nothing in this opinion is intended to convey a view about the underlying facts or the appropriateness of the discipline imposed."

The union filed another grievance with a different arbitrator, Shyam Das, contending the new CBA prohibits Goodell from punishing players for any conduct before the CBA was signed. The league's investigation showed the bounty program ran from 2009-11.

Das has yet to rule on that grievance, which also seeks to have player appeals heard by Art Shell and Ted Cottrell, who are jointly appointed by the league and union to review discipline handed out for on-field conduct.

The league and union have spent plenty of time before arbitrators and judges this offseason, with two other major cases pending.

Vilma has sued Goodell for defamation in a U.S. District Court in New Orleans and Goodell has been given until July 5 to respond to the action.

The players also have sued the league in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, saying the owners colluded in the uncapped 2010 season to have a secret salary cap. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has said such collusion could have cost players $1 billion in wages.

That lawsuit stems, in part, from the NFL stripping the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys of salary cap room in 2012 and `13. The Redskins had their cap reduced $36 million over the two years and the Cowboys lost $10 million in cap space.

Both teams filed a grievance and lost.

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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NFL has copy of ledger detailing Saints' bounty earnings

Posted: 06:37 PM ET June 01, 2012

By Ryan Wilson | NFL Blogger

The plot thickens in the never-ending bounty saga. (Getty Images/US PRESSWIRE)
The intrigue surrounding the Saints bounty scandal continues. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has punished the organization from top to bottom, suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma has sued Goodell for defamation, and on Friday, documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon implied that New Orleans players Drew Brees and Scott Fujita (now with the Browns) said that he should to release the damning audio recordings of then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

And now there's this: The NFL has a copy of a ledger detailing weekly bounty earnings of Saints players, CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman has confirmed. The ledger shows both money earned from "cart-offs" ($1,000 payouts) and "whacks" ($400), as well as deductions for "mental errors" ($100), Yahoo.com's Jason Cole reported. Sources told Cole that the NFL presented the ledger during meetings with some of those involved in the scandal.

In one meeting, two entries from the 2009 season were highlighted, Cole writes. Facing the Bills on Sept. 27, 2009, "there were three $1,000 awards. ... And, in a game against the New York Giants on Oct. 18, there was a $1,000 bounty awarded for one cart-off."

It gets worse, allegedly: an opposing player who had been carted off and landed on injured reserve had an exclamation point next to his name in the ledger. "The players knew what their actions were for," the source said.

More via Cole's report:

"The players clearly knew what was going on each week with the payments," a source told Yahoo! Sports. In fact, multiple sources admitted that Saints defensive players would regularly encourage teammates to put money earned from the bounty system back into the pool. It's unclear if that was to increase the potential winnings or eventually use the money for some other purpose.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told Cole via text that the NFL "made mention" of the ledger during a meeting with the union in April but that the NFLPA hadn't yet seen it.

"I guess it either qualifies as evidence, which means fair due process was violated because [the] players didn't get to see it before they were punished or it is not hard evidence because they didn't get to see it and cross examine the validity of that piece of evidence," Atallah wrote to Cole.

Goodell said Thursday that bounties in the NFL shouldn't be an issue going forward. We were skeptical in light of several NFLPA grievances filed against Goodell as well as Vilma's lawsuit. Now, however, it seems the commissioner may have been onto something.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Ryan Wilson on Twitter here: @ryanwilson_07.

Tags: Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma, Scott Fujita, Ryan Wilson, New Orleans Saints, NFL

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Roger Goodell says Saints bounty scandal proof will be made public

Posted: 06:52 PM ET May 22, 2012

By Ryan Wilson | NFL Blogger

Goodell says he is unconcerned about his popularity. (AP)

Earlier this month, New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma was suspended for the 2012 season for his role in the Saints bounty scandal. Last week, Vilma's attorney filed a defamation lawsuit against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The complaint read, in part, that "Vilma seeks to recover damages for defamatory statements made by Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League. … Goodell, speaking publicly about certain Saints executives, coaches and players, in relation to purported efforts designed to injure opposing players, made public statements concerning Vilma which were false, defamatory and injurious to Vilma's professional and personal reputation."

At issue: the league hasn't released evidence showing that Saints players, coaches and front-office members were involved in the pay-for-performance allegations leveled against them in early March.

As I've said before..I NEVER PAID, NOR INTENDED TO PAY ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY,TO ANY PLAYER FOR INTENTIONALLY HURTING AN OPPONENT.

— Jonathan Vilma (@JonVilma51) May 17, 2012

On Tuesday at the league's spring meeting, Goodell said that the NFL plans to release to the public proof of wrongdoing by those already punished for their roles in the bounty scandal.

While the commissioner declined comment on Vilma's defamation lawsuit, he offered a "Yes, I do," in response to a question about whether he expected the evidence to be made public. Details via NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal:

Goodell pointed out that the league released facts in March and is going through the appeals process with the NFL Players Association. He indicated that the league won't release any more information publicly until the appeals and grievance processes are finished.

Goodell added that the NFLPA "expressly told the players not to cooperate in the bounty investigation. I invited them in and they decided not to do that," he said.

As the appeals and grievance process plays out, Goodell remains the target of criticism for players.

"You don't worry about a popularity contest," he said. "You can't. You can't make everyone happy on this."

Lessening the pain for the commissioner? Pulling down $20 million a year. And if all that money doesn't fill the void, there's always the draft (cue "Dust in the Wind").

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Ryan Wilson on Twitter here: @ryanwilson_07. Tags: Jonathan Vilma, Ryan Wilson, New Orleans Saints, NFL

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Prison email is latest disputed NFL bounty evidence

NEW ORLEANS -- An email from an imprisoned friend of the Saints coaching staff with a postscript saying, "put me down for $5,000" on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has become another sore point between players being punished for New Orleans' bounty system and the NFL.

The email, obtained by the Associated Press, was written from prison by marketing agent Mike Ornstein shortly before the Saints' 2011 season opener against the Packers. Ornstein once represented Reggie Bush and later got to know members of the Saints' coaching staff.

The bulk of Ornstein's note to the Saints discusses his experiences in prison and offers sometimes brash words of encouragement to various coaches, including then-Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. The last line states: "PS Gregg Williams put me down for $5000.00 on Rogers (sic)." Ornstein says now that was written "in total jest."

Ornstein was sentenced to eight months in federal prison, which he served in Florence, Colo., for conspiring to scalp Super Bowl tickets and hawking fake "game-worn" jerseys. He was released last fall.

"It's a running joke going for three years," Ornstein said in a phone interview this week, explaining that he had been kidding Williams about bounties ever since the NFC championship game in 2010, after which the Vikings told the NFL that they believed the Saints had a bounty on quarterback Brett Favre.

When shown Ornstein's note in its entirety, an attorney for suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma echoed his criticism from earlier this week that the NFL is manipulating evidence to strengthen a weak case.

"Ornstein's email is just another example of the speciousness of the quote-unquote evidence that Commissioner [Roger] Goodell claims to have to support his erroneous accusations against Jonathan and the other players," lawyer Peter Ginsberg said. "As more of the evidence is revealed in the media, it is becoming more and more apparent how irresponsible the NFL's actions have been."

The NFL did not immediately respond Thursday evening to a request for comment.

In a report released March 21, the NFL highlighted Ornstein's line about Rodgers, stating that it came in an email Saints head coach Sean Payton received from "a close associate."

Payton and the other coaches on the staff did not receive the email from Ornstein directly, but from team spokesman Greg Bensel, who forwarded it on Sept. 3 to the coaching staff with the subject line: "email from Orny [he asked that I send it] the dude is in prison so I told him I would."

Earlier this week, Ginsberg blasted the NFL's interpretation of a sworn statement by suspended former Saints defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, whose signed declaration explains how Williams and Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt instructed him to deny the existence of a bounty program to NFL investigators.

Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney hired by the NFL, has said Hargrove's declaration confirms the existence of a bounty program, and that Hargrove was instructed to lie about it -- and did lie about it -- when first questioned by league investigators.

However, Hargrove, who is now with Green Bay, said this week that the NFL mischaracterized his statement, which the AP also obtained. The declaration does not go into specifics about just what Hargrove knew or did not know about a bounty program in New Orleans, and it does not explicitly say that he lied.

The NFL has suspended Williams indefinitely. Now with St. Louis, Williams has apologized publicly for running a pay-for-performance program that he knew was wrong. Payton was suspended for the 2012 season, general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and Vitt for six. Vitt, who is acting as head coach for most of this season, has said he was punished for tough words he used in motivational talks, but has stressed that Saints players never took the field intending to injure anyone.

Vilma, who was suspended for all of 2012 and Hargrove, who was suspended for half the season, were among four players punished in the NFL's bounty probe. Saints defensive end Will Smith was suspended four games and former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, now with Cleveland, received a three-game suspension.

All four players are appealing their punishment with the help of the NFL Players Association, which has stated that it has not received any hard evidence that players took part in a bounty program.

Richard Smith, the union's lead outside counsel, also decried the NFL's portrayal of Ornstein's email.

"The NFL has not provided the players with any information like this," Smith said. "It is unfortunate that they continue to withhold evidence that can show players' innocence. This email proves what we have feared: what they've been selling to the media as evidence doesn't match up with the truth."

Ornstein's rambling note summarizes his impressions of the team's preseason, then describes his six months in prison as "the tuffest (sic) 6 months of my life for sure." Ornstein writes of how he will be a better father and better person when he gets out. He notes that he lost 55 pounds and tells Saints offensive line coach Aaron Kromer: "No more fat jokes." After offering a variety of advice to various coaches about how to beat the Packers, he writes, "I love you guys. It would be great to be sitting here in this God terrible place and be able to have a smile on my face at least for one night."

He concludes by saying he expected to be released in 18 days and would visit the Saints soon. Then comes the final line about Rodgers.

Now living in Los Angeles, Ornstein said by phone that he had joked with Williams about bounties on other star players, including one other time in an email about Cam Newton. He said he never would have pledged the kind of money he joked about for any pay-for-performance program, never mind one that promoted injurious tackles.

"As long as I've worked with people in the NFL, everyone who knows me knows that the only things I've ever done for players is things that help them, not hurt them," Ornstein said. "First of all, I don't have $5,000 to put down. When I wrote that email, I was in jail. How was I going to pay for it? In stamps? I'm in federal jail in Florence."

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Report: Roman Harper, Will Smith could face bounty punishment from NFL

Posted: 09:22 AM ET April 17, 2012

By Will Brinson | Senior NFL Blogger

The NFL has yet to hand down punishments for players involved in the Saints bounty scandal. But it could be (very) soon, and word's starting to leak about who could be punished.

We already knew that linebacker Jonathan Vilma was "bracing for" a two-to-eight game suspension, but two new names emerged Monday afternoon: Roman Harper and Will Smith.

According to Jason LaCanfora of NFL Network, Harper and Smith are "featured prominently in the NFL's investigation" and "could end up facing more severe discipline" than many of the other players potentially involved in the bounty case.

One thing that these three players have in common: they were all Saints for the duration of the time Gregg Williams was there. Scott Fujita, as LaCanfora notes, was involved in a recent meeting, but only spent one year with the Saints.

It would make a lot of sense that the people who receive the majority of the punishment will be a significant part of the culture that Williams -- the perceived ringleader of the bounty punishment -- helped to install in New Orleans.

Vilma, whether or right or wrong, is considered the primary culprit on the players' end of things. It'll be interesting to see how the length of his suspension affects the rest of the players -- a big suspension for Vilma could indicate he's getting the brunt of the punishment or it could set the bar high for additional punishments to other players.

A shorter punishment would limit for Vilma would likely limit the exposure to suspension for the remainder of the defenders being eyed for suspension by the NFL.

Tags: Jonathan Vilma, Roman Harper, Scott Fujita, Will Smith, New Orleans Saints, NFL

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