Saints Bounty Scandal: Lead Investigator's Resignation Is No Big Deal

New Orleans Saints coaches, players and fans still await potential punishments for the players involved in the three-year bounty scandal, and they don't know why.

For inexplicable reasons, a full month and then some has passed since the league handed down discipline to GM Mickey Loomis, head coach Sean Payton, assistant coach Joe Vitt and former coach Gregg Williams.

There may be no connection here at all, but one potential reason could be that lead investigator Joe Hummel has submitted his letter of resignation (via ProFootballTalk.com):

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Per multiple league sources, NFL director of investigations Joe Hummel has submitted a letter of resignation.

The move came Friday, at a time when all eyes were focused on the aftermath of round one of the draft and anticipation for the six rounds to come.

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According to Bradley Handwerger of WWLTV in Louisiana, Hummel is leaving for another job:

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Joe Hummel, a former FBI agent, will depart the NFL offices in June, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Hummel reports to NFL chief security officer Jeff Miller and will continue to be involved in the investigation, Aiello said. The company he is moving to has held the position open until the Saints bounty probe and penalties are finished.

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What we can gather from this is that the investigation should be completed in the next month and we should have the punishments sooner than later.

We could speculate as to why this is happening now, but the report from Handwerger clears that up, as people leave jobs for other jobs all the time--even in the NFL.

This bounty scandal has been a terrible black eye on the country's most popular sport, and although we'd all love a quicker resolution, one could certainly argue we'd rather the investigation be as thorough as possible before making judgments on the very players who carry this league.

New Orleans has already been docked two second-round picks in addition to the coaches/executives, as well as half a million dollars.

One the ruling comes down on the players, you can be sure that won't happen quietly, nor accepted silently.

As for Hummel's odd-timed departure, it does not appear to have any connection to the Saints bounty scandal or the delay in player punishment.