6 Burning Questions After NFL Upholds Sean Payton, Saints Suspensions

On Monday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the suspensions of New Orleans Saints' head coach Sean Payton, assistant coach Joe Vitt and general manager Mickey Loomis for violations of the league's anti-bounty rule.

Then Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams reportedly spearheaded a pay-for-pain bounty program from 2009 to 2011 that Payton, Vitt and Loomis knew about, but didn't do enough to stop. The trio appealed their suspensions last week and met with Goodell. Monday's announcement from the league means Vitt will still miss six games, Loomis eight, and Payton will be suspended for the entire season, without pay.

The release from the league adds that once the suspensions are over, the commissioner will "review the status of each of the three individuals to determine their eligibility for reinstatement."

In addition to the suspensions, the $500,000 fine to the team and loss of draft picks, Goodell expects that the "team and the individuals will be expected to cooperate in any further proceedings and to assist in the development and implementation of programs to instruct players and coaches at all levels on principles of player safety, fair play, and sportsmanship." There is a chance that if the Saints follow along with Goodell's plan, the team might enjoy a mitigation of its financial penalties and possibly a modification to the forfeiture of the 2013 second-round draft pick.

What exactly does this all mean? Here are six questions, and answers, Saints fans need to ask and have answered:

1. When do the suspensions start?

Sean Payton's year-long suspension starts Monday, April 16, which happens to be the first day of Saints OTA's. Payton can remain with the team in a full capacity until then. At that point, he's officially suspended, without pay, until the day after the Super Bowl. The suspensions of Joe Vitt (six games) and Mickey Loomis (eight games) will begin at the conclusion of the Saints preseason.

2. Does this mean Bill Parcells is the new Saints head coach?

No, but it means that the Saints have to do something now. The job, according to the team and Parcells, hasn't been offered yet . It was likely that all parties were waiting to hear back from the commissioner on the appeal hearing. Now that it's definite that Payton will miss the entire season, it makes sense to offer Parcells the job. There's no guarantee that he'll take the position, but it can now be offered without hesitation. If Parcells does not want the job, or the Saints don't offer it to him, New Orleans might ask offensive line coach Aaron Kromer to take over on an interim basis. New defensive coordination Steve Spagnuolo has already said he did not want the job.

3. What happens after the suspension?

After each of the three suspensions, Goodell will review the status of each individual. It's not an automatic re-entry into the league, Goodell must sign off on it.

4. What do the three have to do to get reinstated?

Well, that's a murky area. From the gist of the NFL release, they have to keep their noses clean and help out with the investigation. But the phrase "individuals will be expected to cooperate in any further proceedings" scares me just a bit. There are reportedly 27 Saints players who have been named as being involved in some way with the bounty scandal. Is revealing everything known about each of these players part of the cooperation the league is looking for? If so, that could create a huge rift in the locker room once everyone is reinstated, if they are.

5. The league said that if there was full cooperation it might consider reducing the $500,000 fine and modifying the forfeiture of the 2013 second-round pick. What does that mean?

In a broad sense, play nice and the NFL will reduce the fine and possibly knock the second-round pick to a lower pick in the same draft. If Payton, Vitt and Loomis just have to keep their noses clean for this to go into effect, this should be an easy way to help the Saints. However, if the three will be forced to testify against Saints players, the destructive nature that could thrust upon the organization might not be worth the reduction in fine or the draft-pick modification.

6. What about those 27 players?

There could, quite possibly, be 27 Saints players that face punishment from this bounty scandal. The league met with the NFLPA last week to discuss moving forward and now the NFLPA is going over the investigation notes. Expect the NFL to want to move quickly now that the appeals process is complete. The NFLPA hired an international law firm to represent the players in the league's investigation.