Carolina Panthers' Steve Smith Says Saints Player Came Clean About Bounties

The New Orleans Saints' bounty program was a known entity, at least to Steve Smith who had one defender confess to his intentions. 

NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal reports the latest news to drop from a scandal that continues to unfold. The Carolina Panthers receiver said he was well aware of the bounty program and the intentions of the defensive coordinator who put it in place. 

Rosenthal cites Smith, who was on the Dave Dameshek Football Program. While he doesn't call out the specific Saints player who divulged his intentions, Smith explained what was at the heart of a tenuous play:

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"I actually had an altercation with a guy who told me firsthand. I was going out of bounds, and the guy went for my ankle. I said, 'Hey, man, cut that out.' He's like, 'Well, we get fined if we don't go after your legs when you go out of bounds.' ... And actually this past year, this last game when we played them, I had a little conversation with Gregg Williams. ... He took responsibility, he was saying it wasn't right, but that's who he was."

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Williams is what he is, and the bounty program was what it was. Those are excuses and explanations that may have been just fine a year ago, but just don't work now. 

The intriguing part of this story is the nameless Saints player going out of his way to hit Smith despite the play being dead. 

The impetus? That's as simple as a potential fine coming from a DC who wanted his players to play with a hunger for violence. It seems that instead of just paying his players to get after a player, Williams would fine them for not going the extra inch to harm the opposition. 

Of course, this is just one account and one horrible chapter to a mammoth tome of awfulness. The Saints are buried under suspensions and fines, and tales like this only exacerbate the negativity. 

The only good news is that excuses like, "It is what it is," just won't fly from here on out. The days of bounties and going after ankles when the whistle is blown are over, at least for the time being. 

Williams and his defenders were out to harm the opposition, but ended up killing the Saints. 

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