New Orleans Saints See the Hammer Dropped: Sean Payton Suspended 1 Year

While the NFL world seemed to orbit around Peyton Manning for the past two weeks, another story that started weeks before Manning was released from Indianapolis seemed to be nearing its conclusion.

Prior to Manning's best LeBron James impression, people were debating incessantly about "bounty gate" that took place int he New Orleans locker room when former defensive coordinator Greg Williams was still with the team.

While Williams was suspended indefinitely by the league, all the talk will be about the heavy price the Saints will have to pay for having this bounty system exist.  Payton's efforts in being upfront about the bounty system and his admission that it did indeed happen did not help ultimately in gaining a lighter punishment.

Payton was suspended for one year by the league, an unprecedented suspension on an NFL coach.  Additionally, general manager Mickey Loomis is suspended for the first half of the 2012 season, and assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended for six games and fined $100,000.  The team itself has been fined $500,000

The on-field product will suffer, too, as the team has to forfeit their second-round picks in 2012 and 2013.  Between this and the contract struggles with Drew Brees, it has not been a good offseason in New Orleans. 

While the suspensions are incredibly heavy, it's something that needed to be done.  It would be one thing if Greg Williams somehow ran this system without anyone's knowledge.  But it went far beyond that.  

Both Payton and Loomis condoned it, and they also ignored the league after they warned the Saints about this type of activity before.

It's really anyone's guess what will happen to the Saints.  Will they hire a new coach for a year?  Will Drew Brees possibly look to get out of this situation and demand a trade rather than want a long-term extension?  

One thing is for sure, though.  The Saints being a feel-good story has come to an end.  No longer will this team be thought of as a group of players bringing hope to a city. 

Now, people will remember them for a team that saw one of the best coaches in the NFL over the past 20 years get one of the stiffest suspensions in NFL history.