A consensus opinion was built Saturday that the New Orleans Saints are looking at severe penalties from the NFL, in light of a league report that ripped the team for employing a bounty system that rewarded players for vicious hits.
The report comes at a time in which litigation storm clouds are gathering over the league in response to concussions suffered by former players, and in the midst of a protracted, high-profile movement by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to emphasize player safety.
In the roughly 24 hours after the league deemed the Saints guilty of paying cash bonuses for delivering “cart-off” or “knockout” blows that sideline opponents, a chorus of current and former players came forward and said a “pay for performance” system is, if not common, far from confined to New Orleans.
Nevertheless, legal experts and national commentators agreed, it is the Saints who find themselves in the crosshairs, and the price will be steep.
“I think it’s huge, this backdrop of concerns over concussions and the focus on players’ health and safety,” said Tulane law professor Gabe Feldman, a recognized authority on sports law. “To have such an emphasis, and now to have something come out in which a coach paid players to intentionally injure opponents, that is so in contrast to the message being sent by both the players’ union and the league.
“The NFL has to come down hard,” Feldman concluded. “The league has to make a statement here, to make sure the message is clear to current and future players that safety comes first. It’s not just the concussion litigation but the league’s image overall.”
Certainly the Saints’ image was severely bruised by the revelation that former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams administered a bounty system between 2009 and 2011 that paid cash rewards for potentially injurious hits. The team has not denied the essence of the league’s report, and Williams apologized for his participation in a “pay for performance” scheme he knew was wrong at the time.
All told, the NFL said between 22 and 27 Saints defenders were “willing and eager participants” in the bounty system, in which bonuses trebled in the postseason and reportedly reached its zenith during the Saints’ triumphant march to Super Bowl XLIV. In two playoff games at home against Arizona and Minnesota, the Saints delivered crushing blows to quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Brett Favre that did not draw flags from officials but raised eyebrows on opposing sidelines. Eventually, the league fined Saints defensive end Bobby McCray $20,000 for his hits on Favre.
Players, Williams and others — including convicted felon Mike Ornstein — reportedly chipped in to the fund. General Manager Mickey Loomis denied the bounties’ existence, however, when confronted about it by the league in 2010, according to the NFL, and later disregarded a direct order from owner Tom Benson that the illicit payments cease.
Although the Saints acknowledged the truth of the report generally, officials continue to dispute the notion Loomis was guilty of any sort of cover-up. The notion he would cavalierly ignore a command from Benson is absurd, team officials said, essentially the unsavory scheme is being laid on the general manager’s doorstep even though he has nothing to do with coaching the defense and hasn’t attended a unit meeting in years.
Instead of wallowing in the report’s glare, however, Loomis has reportedly delved deeper into the team’s complex contract negotiations with several key players. As if to underscore the business-as-usual approach, the Saints announced Saturday they had put the franchise tag on star quarterback Drew Brees after ongoing talks for a long-term deal reached an impasse.
Although Loomis and Coach Sean Payton had their offseason work interrupted by a Goodell summons Thursday to league headquarters in New York, the pair have known the bounty report was upcoming. Loomis, who is reportedly holed up in a windowless room just off the parking lot while his second-floor corner office that overlooks the Saints’ practice field is undergoing renovations, maintained his silence on the report Saturday.
Outside the team’s Metairie headquarters, however, the uproar over the report continued.
Several Saints defenders once again did not respond to phone calls, emails and texts requesting comments, but some of them, notably linebacker Jonathan Vilma and safety Roman Harper, have been busy retweeting particularly noxious and sometimes racist attacks they have received via Twitter.
Also growing was the sense the Saints are not some diabolical island in the league but were instead engaging in behavior far from atypical in professional football. To be sure, many players drew a bright line between bonuses paid for high-impact plays such as interceptions and fumble recoveries and for injurious hits, the latter precisely the sort of behavior for which Goodell ripped the Saints.
An NFL spokesman in New York sidestepped a question Saturday as to whether the league is actively investigating other franchises for policies similar to those that were in place in New Orleans. He reiterated, though, that, “we will be addressing the issues raised as part of our responsibilities to protect player safety and the integrity of the game.”
Goodell’s pointed remarks and the Friday report come at a time when the league faces increased courtroom challenges related to head injuries suffered by players, and in the middle of a high-profile campaign to boost player safety and protect quarterbacks.
Several former Saints, including John Fourcade, were among the 11 ex-players named as plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed last month in federal court in New Orleans. The lawsuit says each of them has developed mental or physical problems from concussions or concussion-like symptoms.
Several similar suits blaming the NFL for concussion-related dementia and brain disease already have been consolidated in Philadelphia. James Dugan, a lawyer for the former players from Louisiana, said he expects the case to be transferred to Philadelphia within a month.
The NFL has vowed to vigorously defend itself against the suits.
Football helmet manufacturer Riddell Inc. also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed in New Orleans.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses the NFL of ignoring players’ concussion risks for years “despite overwhelming medical evidence that on-field concussions led directly to brain injuries and frequently had tragic repercussions for retired players.”
Feldman said that atmosphere has to be a driving force in considering penalties against the Saints. The club and its executives and coaches — along with Williams — face possible fines and suspensions. The Saints also could be stripped of draft choices.
One benchmark penalty Saints officials have pointed to is that imposed on the New England Patriots in the wake of the so-called “Spygate” scandal in 2007, when the Patriots were caught illicitly videotaping signals by New York Jets coaches. The NFL hit New England and Coach Bill Belichick with a total of $750,000 in fines and the loss of a first-round draft pick.
But most analysts say the penalties imposed on the Saints will be harsher. Although the NFL has given no indication of when it might reach a decision on the penalties, the annual owners meeting is March 25-28 in Palm Beach, Fla., and it is likely the penalties will be revealed before that. All head coaches traditionally give lengthy interviews during that meeting.
“There has to be more than words here; there has to be real action,” Feldman said. “The NFL has to make it clear that every step of the way, player safety has been a priority because if litigation on this ever got before a jury, the league has to show it wasn’t just paying lip service to the issue.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report. James Varney can be reached at jvarney@timespicayune.com or 504.717.1156.
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