Roger Goodell's Punishment for Saints Bounty Program Is Far Too Weak

The league has finally come forward with its decision on what punishments will be handed out to the New Orleans Saints players involved in the bounty scandal that has spanned over the past three years.

Jonathan Vilma will be forced to sit out the entire upcoming season. Anthony Hargrove will sit out half of the year, Will Smith is sidelined for four games and Scott Fujita will sit for three.

Roger Goodell has cracked down on player safety in recent years, handing severe punishments out for questionable hits left and right. Surely he wanted to make a statement when the allegations of the Saints bounty system came to light.

Reports stated 22 to 27 defensive players were involved in the program ran by Gregg Williams. Now, out of all those players, only four received any punishment, and two of those reprimanded don’t even play for New Orleans anymore. Hargrove hasn’t played for the Saints for several years now, and Fuijta has called Cleveland home since 2010.

So, out of everything to come from a three-year investigation into a franchise that has obviously made a few egregious errors recently, only two players on the team today will be forced to miss any playing time.

What kind of message does Goodell send with these punishments?

The commissioner has suspended James Harrison multiple times in the past few seasons for illegal hits on several different players. He’s changed the kickoff rules to ensure fewer injuries would occur on some of the most dangerous plays in the game. He’s made it clear that player safety is a huge priority in his book, and anyone willing to go against him will suffer the consequences.

While Goodell “focused on players who were in leadership positions at the Saints,” he forgot about the 18 to 23 other Saints players who were in some way involved. What message is that sending to the league that only the leaders of a team are going to be punished if the team makes a mistake?

Everyone involved—everyone who knew about the program and didn’t try to stop it—should have been suspended. Goodell let the Saints off easy here.

With this in mind, how can he justify suspending only two players on the Saints as a reasonable punishment for something that went on for three years? Three years of attempting to hurt players on opposing teams to be financially compensated merits lesser punishment than some have received for a single play. It doesn’t really add up when you look at the grand scheme of things.

The Saints are not hurt very badly by these latest repercussions. Everyone expected Vilma to miss considerable playing time, as he was one of the main players discussed throughout the whole process. Aside from his suspension, New Orleans walks away unscathed for the most part.

The NFLPA has stated they have yet to see any substantial evidence from the bounty scandal, and they clearly appear to disagree with the suspensions handed out.

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“After seeing the NFL’s decision letters, the NFLPA has still not received any detailed or specific evidence from the league of these specific players’ involvement in an alleged pay-to-injure program,” the union said.  “We have made it clear that punishment without evidence is not fair.  We have spoken with our players and their representatives and we will vigorously protect and pursue all options on their behalf.”

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While the message sent Wednesday was enough to likely deter any future bounty programs from happening, the punishment was handled down with kid gloves.

These players on the Saints defense were trying to hurt opposing players. And if that’s not bad enough, they were getting paid extra to do so. Everyone’s looking for an edge—this is understandable in the NFL—but to pay for pain, to attack a head injury or a recently recovered ACL injury, that’s unconscionable.

Every single player involved should have been punished. It doesn’t matter if the player made a hit or not. If he tried or agreed to try, Goodell should have suspended him.

There are 18 to 23 players who are skating on this. That’s unacceptable.

Kurt Warner’s career-ending injury—even though Warner didn’t feel it was a cheap shot—came against these Saints who were frenzied by a bounty program. Warner didn’t get off scot free.

The punishments handed down Wednesday just feel like a win-win. The league wins because it’s now just a little bit safer of an institution to play football. The Saints win because they lose just one player—not to mention their head coach—for an entire year.

New Orleans should be dealing with 22 to 27 suspensions. They didn’t have to be long-term suspensions, but something should have been handed down.

There should be more of a feeling of loss to this decision. Payton and Vilma are lost for the season. That’s harsh. But how many ex-players missed time as a result of bounty-program injuries? It’s not just Warner.

Goodell settled here. Whether it was out of kindness or fear of the public backlash, Goodell went easy on the Saints, and he shouldn’t have.