Gregg Williams: Released Audio Dooms Disgraced Coach and Damages Saints Appeal

Greg Williams is suspended indefinitely, but the latest developments in the Saints' bounty case has all but ended his now-disgraced NFL career.

First reported by Yahoo! Sports' Mike Silver, an audio file has been released with painstaking detail about what the former Saints defensive coordinator wanted his players to do to opponents. Not just opponents in general, but specific players—in this case on the San Francisco 49ers.

You can listen in to what he had to see here, but be warned, this video and audio contains explicit and profane language:

Silver and Yahoo! credit the audio to documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, the same man who directed the ESPN 30-for-30 doc Run Ricky Run. The audio file was first released on his site, TheUSof.com.

But the audio isn't the only thing we can contribute to Pamphilon. Silver quotes him saying "there is no doubt at all" that Williams personally put out a bounty on Niners QB Alex Smith in the meeting:

"

At one point Williams says, "We hit [expletive] Smith right there"—then he points under his chin [and continues]—"remember me." Then he rubs his thumb against his index and middle fingers—the cash sign—and says, "I got the first one. I got the first one. Go get it. Go lay that [expletive] out."

"

Pamphilon was present in the locker room working on a project about former Saints special teams ace Steve Gleason, who is suffering from ALS, according to Silver.

To make matters worse, this particular speech was given after New Orleans knew the NFL was reopening the investigation into the bounty claims, meaning coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis knew full well what was happening.

The Saints are appealing the suspensions handed down by the NFL, and this latest bit of information does not help. It is entirely likely commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL had already heard this tape, but now that it is public knowledge, there is no way they can back off the severity of the punishments already handed down.

Football people will argue that football is violent, but nobody can condone or overlook this type of instruction—especially knowing that there is monetary value attached to it.

This bounty scandal has been an ugly situation from the get-go, but now the public has their hands on words and actions that cannot be unsaid or undone.

It would be a huge surprise if Gregg Williams ever walks on an NFL sideline again, and it is highly unlikely the appeal does any good for the Saints this season.