The NFL filed court documents Friday showing that suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma initially agreed to a new bounty hearing with commissioner Roger Goodell last month before Vilma's lawyers and the players union talked him out of it. The documents were filed in response to a federal judge's order asking the NFL Players Association to address possible conflicts of interests between union lawyers and three suspended players they represent: New Orleans defensive end Will Smith, Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita and free-agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove. The NFL did not take a position on the matter, but said it filed the documents about the scuttled Vilma hearing because the NFLPA provided information that was "neither accurate nor complete" when it filed arguments on Thursday that there was no conflict. Vilma has his own attorneys, but documents show the NFLPA discouraged all four suspended players from participating in any rehearing without certain conditions that the league refused to meet. The NFL wanted the meeting to occur in the form of a new hearing in the bounty matter, with testimony entered on the record, lawyers for Vilma and the union wanted it to occur in the form of confidential settlement discussions which could not be entered as evidence in any related lawsuits and the documents show that Vilma wrote on Aug. 20 that he would meet with Goodell on Aug. 23, and that Vilma traveled to New York for the meeting before pulling out on the same day the meeting was scheduled. Source: CBSSports
