Monday, March 5, 2012

Bounty Hunting is Over

Over the past four days, the NFL was struck with another lightning bolt of shame as the New Orleans's Saints have found to have a "bounty program" resting in their own organization. Now in the NFL, a "bounty program" is when defensive players get paid extra money for delivering game ending hits on certain offensive players, such as the running back or quarterback. In the NFL's investigative report, the league's agents found that a program which gave players extra money for game ending hits was found to be more evident in the Saint's organization. The money could be funneled by the players on the team or even by a coach on that team. The sad part about this whole situation is that 3 years ago the Saints were told to stop this program and instead continued it until now. To put this whole problem in perspective; remember how Spygate cost the Patriots a lot of money and a first round draft pick and that was just for illegally taping other teams. Magnify that situation by ten and you get the Saint's "bounty program." This is a very serious offense and the league, plus the commissioner will come down hard on the Saints. What I mean by that is this will not just affect players, this will affect current St. Louis Ram's defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, whom supposedly was the mastermind behind the program and current Saint's Coach Sean Payton. Even Saint's General Manager Mickey Loomis knew the program was going on 3 years ago and was told to stop it by the league, but never did. Now the Saints have their hands caught in the cookie jar and now the penalties will begin to pile up.

The 22 to 27 players named in the report will mostly likely be faced with 2 to 3 game suspensions as well as heavy fines. Now understand, this will include players that are or were on the Saint's teams the last 3 seasons. Some players depending on how severe the hit was could even face 4 game suspensions. So lets say that half of those players still start for the Saints and that those 13 to 14 players miss the first 3 games of the season. The Saint's are missing half if not all their starters or back ups on defense. Which if you remember the Saint's defense was ranked third to last in the league last season. So now the defense went from bad to worse and let's not forget since the Saint's had to franchise tag Drew Brees, they will mostly likely lose one of his two wide receivers and could also lose his left tackle that protects his blind side too. So now the Saint's could go from a powerhouse offense to an average offense all because they lose 2 key players. Consider this step the first step in a row of dominoes. Once the first few go every domino begins to fall as well.

Still the players will suffer, but the coaches and general manager will suffer as well. Even though Greg Williams is no longer with the Saints, he will probably suffer the most because he is considered the mastermind behind this whole program. Everywhere Williams has been, the "bounty program" has been used by teams such as the Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, and Jacksonville Jaguars. The interesting part is when Williams arrived to the Saints in 2009 the 'Bounty program" was already in effect. Instead of stopping the program, Williams fueled it by putting his own money in the pot to give his players more motivation to hit hard and fast. Williams has came and said he regrets the program and is very sorry for what he done. Still what's done is done and now Williams, Sean Payton, and General Manager Mickey Loomis must be punished. Williams will mostly likely be suspended the entire season, which could damage the Ram's defense since his new system cannot be properly placed in the defense. Head Coach Sean Payton who supposedly turned a blind eye to the program will face a possible 5 game suspension and could even face a heavy fine as well. Some journalists are even going as far to say that Payton should be fired for letting this system continue this long. As for General Manager Mickey Loomis, he could be fined and suspended as well, but then again some individuals would like him fired or to step down. All 3 men knew the wrongs of this but instead let it continue all in the name of winning. Now it's looks like their championship run in 2009 will be tarnished forever.

The greatest impact this scandal will hurt the most is the organization itself. The Saint's organization could face a fine starting at $1 million and up. This could really hurt the Saint's when it comes to signing free agents or resigning some of their own players as well. Another big hit will be draft picks. The Saint's do not have a first round draft pick this year because they traded the pick to the Patriots for running back Mark Ingram. So the league will look at taking away their second, third, and fourth round picks, which could leaves the Saints with only 3 draft picks this year. The league will also look to take away their first round pick next year as well, so now if the Saint's are looking into fresh talent, they might as well forget it.

The funny part about the whole situation is there were a few players that never knew this program was going on and now they must suffer the mistakes made by individuals that thought they were above the system of the NFL. Not one player lifted a finger to stop this program all because they were either afraid of losing their teammates's respect or for fear of losing their position. Eventually someone talked causing all this to happen to an organization that everyone in the world thought was the next big team. Well, the Mardi Gras party is over now Saint's fans and now you must suffer for your team's mistakes. Good luck Saints, your going to need it because now your name means nothing.