More Dirty Details on New Orleans Saints’ Bounty Scandal Emerged

More Dirty Details on New Orleans Saints’ Bounty Scandal Emerged

The NFL Bounty Scandal holds a copy of a "ledger" that recorded detailed weekly earnings for players in the New Orleans Saints adhering to the bounty system, according to two sources with knowledge on the investigation.

The ledger, which shows both money earned for "cart-offs" and "whacks" and deductions for "mental errors," also points to the fact that players were told on a week-by-week basis of their performance.

Ex-Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is at the spotlight of the bounty scandal investigation.   And regardless of whether the money was paid out or not, the mere implication of a cash payment for such plays is considered a violation of league rules.

NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah said via text message that the league "made mention" of the ledger in a meeting with the union in April, but that the NFLPA had not seen the ledger yet.

As a result, Atallah called into question the use of the ledger as "evidence."

This news comes in the aftermath of a declaration Friday by filmmaker Sean Pamphilon that he was encouraged by former New Orleans linebacker Scott Fujita to release an audio recording of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, in which Williams exhorts players to hurt members of the San Francisco 49ers in a playoff game last season.

Implicit within Pamphilon's 10,000-word description of the circumstances is that players such as Fujita and New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and the NFL Players Association were attempting to put the blame for the bounty scandal onto Williams and the coaching staff.

The ledger could prove to be extremely damning to the players' cause. Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has filed a defamation lawsuit against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in federal court in Louisiana, claiming he never paid nor received money for bounties.

While the ledger doesn't necessarily prove that there was an actual transaction, it is potentially strong evidence that such a system existed. In the ledger, payments of $1,000 for cart-offs (a hit that resulted in a player being helped off the field), $400 for whacks (hard hits) and $100 deductions for mental errors were kept track of for each player.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Saturday June 02 2012, 3:43 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0