Williams did not immediately return calls from ESPN seeking comment.
According to the investigation, the players regularly contributed cash into a pool and received improper cash payments of two kinds from the pool, based on their play in the previous week's game.
Williams administered the program with the knowledge of other defensive coaches and occasionally contributed funds, according to the league investigation.
Payments were made for plays such as interceptions and fumble recoveries. But the program also included "bounty" payments for "cart-offs," meaning that the opposing player was carried off the field, and "knockouts," meaning that the opposing player was not able to return.
The investigation showed that the total amount of funds in the pool may have reached $50,000 or more at its height during the 2009 playoffs. The program paid players $1,500 for a "knockout" and $1,000 for a "cart-off," with payouts doubling or tripling during the playoffs.
"The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for 'performance,' but also for injuring opposing players," Goodell said in a statement. "The bounty rule promotes two key elements of NFL football: player safety and competitive integrity."
The NFL has a longstanding rule prohibiting "non-contract bonuses," and they violate both the league constitution and bylaws and the collective bargaining agreement with the players' union. Clubs are advised every year of this rule in a memo from the commissioner.
"Our investigation began in early 2010 when allegations were first made that Saints players had targeted opposing players, including Kurt Warner of the Cardinals and Brett Favre of the Vikings," Goodell said in a statement. "Our security department interviewed numerous players and other individuals.
"At the time, those interviewed denied that any such program existed and the player that made the allegation retracted his earlier assertions. As a result, the allegations could not be proven," Goodell said.
"We recently received significant and credible new information and the investigation was re-opened during the latter part of the 2011 season."
According to the NFL investigation, Benson was not initially aware of the bounty program and directed Loomis to make sure it was discontinued immediately. The evidence showed Loomis did not do so, investigators found.
"Similarly, when the initial allegations were discussed with Mr. Loomis in 2010, he denied any knowledge of a bounty program and pledged that he would ensure that no such program was in place. There is no evidence that Mr. Loomis took any effective action to stop these practices," according to the league's findings.
Payton "was not a direct participant in the funding or administration of the program," according to the investigation.
However, Payton "was aware of the allegations, did not make any detailed inquiry or otherwise seek to learn the facts, and failed to stop the bounty program. He never instructed his assistant coaches or players that a bounty program was improper and could not continue," the investigation found.
The investigation included the review of approximately 18,000 documents totaling more than 50,000 pages, interviews of a wide range of individuals and the use of outside forensic experts to verify the authenticity of key documents.
Between 22 and 27 defensive players on the New Orleans Saints, as well as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, maintained a "bounty" program funded primarily by players in violation of NFL rules during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, the NFL announced Friday.
The investigation by the league's security department determined that an improper "pay for performance" program included "bounty" payments to players for inflicting injuries on opposing players that would result in them being removed from a game.
In some cases, the amounts pledged were both significant and directed against a specific opposing player, according to the league's investigation.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis failed to stop the bounty program when directed to do so by team owner Tom Benson, while coach Sean Payton was aware of the allegations but did not pursue them or take steps to stop the "bounty" program, according to the investigation's findings.
The findings, corroborated by multiple independent sources, have been presented to commissioner Roger Goodell, who will determine the appropriate discipline.
"It is our responsibility to protect player safety and the integrity of our game, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated," Goodell said in a statement. "We have made significant progress in changing the culture with respect to player safety and we are not going to relent. We have more work to do and we will do it."
Goodell has advised the Saints that he will hold proceedings to determine potential discipline against the team and the individuals involved, and confer with the players' union regarding the appropriate punishment. That discipline could include fines, suspensions and the forfeiture of draft choices.
"I have been made aware of the NFL's findings relative to the 'Bounty Rule' and how it relates to our club. I have offered and the NFL has received our full cooperation in their investigation," Benson said in a statement. "While the findings may be troubling, we look forward to putting this behind us and winning more championships in the future for our fans."
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From: RappinHobo9292 | #004 Well this was expected.
From: Aecioo | #008 NFL Board knew about the saints scumminess for the longest time.
This is not shocking.
Yeah, everyone knew they were full of dirty ass players. This isn't all that surprising, wouldn't even be all that surprising if people on other teams had similar things going on.
Screw this city, screw it's fans, screw the team...etc. EVERYTHING I ever said about them Should come true. Also, everyone all ready knew this. This is not surprising.
Looks like we'll be getting a new rule. Defensive players no longer allowed to touch offensive players. Must wait for them to fall down of their own accord.
Not sure what they'll do with the Saints, especially since their first round pick already belongs to New England.
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Man, that's basically their entire defense that could be suspended for quite a while if Goodell wants to put the hammer down. They'd have to fill half their roster with practice squad-ers and journeymen to even field a full team.
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From: BFairfield | #011 "In week of the NFCCG, Jonathan Vilma put $10K on a table & said 'this goes to the guy that knocks out Brett Favre.'" - Schefter
Ahahaha
Incredible.
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I think everyone kinda knew this after the Vkings game with that Brett Favre hit which was completely intentional. Nice knowing it's true. But I think people always suspected as much.
From: SythaWarrior | #033 I think everyone kinda knew this after the Vkings game with that Brett Favre hit which was completely intentional. Nice knowing it's true. But I think people always suspected as much.
I think everyone knew about this the game before where they ended Warner's career.
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I thought this came up years ago and pretty much every team did stuff like this - Dungy talks about how the Titans had a bounty on Manning, but "for some reason" didn't bring it up to the league when it was going on.
Regardless of how widespread this is, I fully suspect the NFL will come down on the Saints furiously. they're knee deep in a major lawsuit regarding past player injuries and now this. They'll make an example out of this for sure.
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From: neonreap | #035 I thought this came up years ago and pretty much every team did stuff like this - Dungy talks about how the Titans had a bounty on Manning, but "for some reason" didn't bring it up to the league when it was going on.
The thing is, all this leads back to Jeff Fisher. He's a notoriously dirty coach, and now he's built a new empire with the Rams. It'll be interesting to see where this goes from here, because key personnel from both the Saints and Redskins scandals are once again working under him with the Rams this coming season.
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I don't think that the NFL is going to come down as hard on the Saints as everyone seems to be thinking. There'll be punishments. But I'm guessing we'll see some rule changes too.
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I have a really hard time being as up in arms about this as everyone else is. I don't think headhunting is the sort of thing that should be encouraged, but when I watch football I basically want to see the defense murder the guy carrying the ball. Football is a violent sport, that's more than a small part of what makes the sport entertaining. So... ehhhh. I don't love the whole bounty thing, but I honestly don't see what's just so awful about it. I don't think the Saints should get the death penalty for it. Fines would suffice.
Given that the coach who supported this headhunting at New Orleans also did so at Washington which caused Peyton Manning's neck injury, I'm going to be dreaming of Washington losing their draft pick so nobody can trade up and RGIII falls to the Browns at 4.
And given that the Patriots lost a 1st round pick for Spygate, that's the bare minimum the Saints are going to get.
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Again the problem isn't that they're paying players to tackle key players. They're paying people to purposely try to cause potentially career ending injuries. There is a big difference between trying to force a dude to the ground and trying to make a person land so they tear their ACL
And yes, I think the penalties will be as severe as people think, just because of the lawsuit that is looming over them right now
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