Suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma entered federal court with high, if not guarded, hopes for his settlement conference Monday morning, which took place in Magistrate Judge Daniel Knowles' chambers among his attorneys, the NFL and the NFL Players Association. "Hopefully, we can get something accomplished," Vilma said before the negotiations, retreating into the Hale Boggs Federal Building with a trio of attorneys. "We'll find out. We're going to go and hopefully, have some great conversation with (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell) today and hopefully work it out." The three parties met by court order, attempting to reach a compromise between the seemingly irreconcilable positions of the four suspended current and former New Orleans Saints players, who wanted their league-imposed suspensions set aside in full, and the NFL, which has thus far through a lengthy appeals process and federal court filings steadfastly refused to reduce its penalties at all. After three hours, the opposing sides slowly filed out of the courtroom empty-handed, having failed to settle the matter. Source: The Times-Picayune
