Cris Carter Admits to Placing Bounties During NFL Career

Former NFL wide receiver Cris Carter has emerged as a window into the seedy underbelly of pro football of late.

His most recent insight? That he placed bounties of his own on other players during his 16-year career.

Carter admitted as much during an appearance on ESPN Radio's Hill and Schlereth on Tuesday, claiming that he used bounties to protect himself and his teammates, as well as to create excitement in games, but never with the intent to maim his opponents:

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I’m guilty of it. It’s the first time I’ve ever admitted it.  But I put a bounty on guys before.  I put bounties on guys.  And the guys tried to take me out, a guy tried to take a cheap shot on me, I put a bounty on him, right now.

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Carter, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins, mentioned notorious linebacker Bill Romanowski as one of the targets from whom he sought some form of protection:

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Protect me...Protect me from him...Especially if he’s playing a different position where I can’t protect myself. I’d tell one of them guards, ‘Hey man, this dude is after me, man.  Bill Romanowski.’  He told me he’s gonna take me out before the game, in warmups.  No problem.  ‘I’m gonna end your career, Carter.’  No problem.  I put a little change on his head before the game.  Protect myself, protect my family.  That’s the league that I grew up in.

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Carter also suggested that he wasn't alone in the employment of this particular practice and admitted that he was present in the Eagles' locker room during the 1989 Bounty Bowl, when Buddy Ryan, the father of Rex and Rob Ryan, put out hits on the opposing players.

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