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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Last shoe drops in the Saints’ Bounty scandal


Only four of the 27 players Roger Goodell implemented in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program will receive punishments for their actions. The league announced today that they have suspended linebacker Jonathan Vilma, linebacker Scott Fujita, defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove and defensive end Will Smith for their “active participation” and for “enthusiastically embracing” the bounty program.


Vilma was hit the hardest with a one year suspension, Hargrove is suspended eight games, Smith will miss four games and Fujita will miss three. Vilma and Smith are the only ones of this group that are still with the Saints.
Hargrove signed with the Green Bay Packers during the free agent period and Fujita is now with the Cleveland Browns. Goodell has now inadvertently hurt three other teams in his ambition to punish the Saints while barely giving the Saints a slap on the wrist.

New Orleans was already prepared to lose a few players and signed linebackers Curtis Lofton and David Hawthorne in free agency. They also let defensive coordinator Greg Williams walk after the season replacing him with Steve Spagnuolo.

The Packers on the other hand will have to find someone to replace the eight games of production they will lose from Hargrove’s suspension. Fujita’s three games may not be that bad for the Browns but they are still seemingly being punished unfairly for something they had nothing to do with.

The St. Louis Rams lost their defensive coordinator when Williams was banned indefinitely although they have known long enough to have found a reasonable replacement for him. Still the Saints seem to have come out of this thing virtually unscathed with the exception of losing their coach Sean Payton for the year.

It seems like the Saints will still be in pretty good position to at least win their division this year which will make all of this scandal talk seem as trivial as Goodell’s punishment. Sounds like Spygate all over again, the rich get richer and keep on winning.

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.

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