The National Football League has announced that New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has been suspended for the duration of the 2012 season for his involvement in the Saints' illegal bounty program. Vilma's suspension begins immediately. According to official release from the NFL, their investigation found that Vilma assisted former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in "establishing and funding" the program. Vilma offered $10,000 cash to any player that knocked Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner out of their 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and offered the same amount to any player that knocked Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game. Vilma is eligible to apply for reinstatement following the 2013 Super Bowl. After a contract restructure last month, Vilma is scheduled to earn $1.6 million base salary, a $600,000 roster bonus and $100,000 workout bonus in 2012. Source: Mac's Football Blog
Will Smith (NO - 4 games), Fujita (now with CLE - 3 games), and Hargrove (now with GB - 8 games) all suspended as well.
obviously his involvement went a lot deeper than everyone assumed.....the Curtis Lofton and David Hawthorne signings are looking even sweeter right about now i'm just glad the suspensions FINALLY came down so we can get to work
the $10,000 on Favre was known about.....the bounty on Warner is fresh news, i agree....he deserved what he got
dkaplanSBJ To recap: Saints don't have top LB, HC for yr; QB unsigned; key DE out for 4 games, interim HC for 6 games, GM for 8 games; even owner's granddaugher, owner in waiting, is out.
Hargrove could pretty much be suspended for the year. Why would the Packers keep him if he's not gonna be around until half way through the season. Maybe someone adds him after...
So the league releases a press statement without personally informing the players of their punishment? I figure godell had to get his jollies one more time. Now I wonder if there is a reporter or news agency out there who has the stones to call this guy on the carpet and find out why it took him over 2 years to take action?
Goodell did inform players through their agents. Vilma's agent did not tell him in time before it hit ESPN.
http://gridironfans.com/forums/late...-statement-regarding-nfls-bounty-program.html godell better get ready for a fight
So exactly whose side is the NFLPA on? The players (who were trying to injure other players) or the players (the injured)? I don't like Goodell, but I'm certain he isn't dumb enough to hand out these punishments without proof.
this is what bothers me.....if he has 50,000 pages of "evidence" on 20 something players just release it. personally, if it's released and is legit i'd shut the heck up about it and move on
geez, a whole year? seems rather drastic. and i heard some other players got pretty significant suspensions.
