NFL: Saints Bounty Thread

[AsylumGuido]

(11-05-2012 08:55 PM)Aftermath Wrote:  why hasn't he signed a new contract over the last year?

Waiting for the outcome.

[AsylumGuido]

(11-05-2012 10:05 PM)mdrake34 Wrote:  Guido, you're not listening to me: Payton and Brees to Dallas, Romo to Kansas City. It's going to happen.

I'll put REAL money on that if you have the balls.

[pauliwood]

(11-05-2012 10:05 PM)mdrake34 Wrote:  Guido, you're not listening to me: Payton and Brees to Dallas, Romo to Kansas City. It's going to happen.

When it comes to this statement, I'm not listening to you either.

[mdrake34]

(11-05-2012 10:50 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  I'll put REAL money on that if you have the balls.

[mdrake34]

(11-05-2012 10:56 PM)pauliwood Wrote:  When it comes to this statement, I'm not listening to you either.

Can I not mess with the saints fan without you kids meddling?

[mdrake34]

I was going to keep that going for 5-10 more posts, but buzz killington over here.

[Aftermath]

(11-05-2012 10:57 PM)mdrake34 Wrote:  

lol, wtf?

[JDaveG]

(11-05-2012 10:50 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  I'll put REAL money on that if you have the balls.

[AsylumGuido]

New news!

Report: Gregg Williams rejects requests to testify in bounty appeal | ProFootballTalk

We learned last weekend, via Chris Mortensen of ESPN, that the bounty appeal hearings conducted by former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will consume several days, making them look more like a courtroom proceeding than the cursory “you’ll get nothing and like it” protocol that the NFL had intended to employ with Commissioner Roger Goodell presiding over the case.

But the question continues to be who will — and who won’t — testify.

CBS has reported that former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo will participate. His testimony becomes critical in light of his sworn statement and his email to the league office from last November, which dusted off a cold case and set the entire bounty process in motion.

But CBS reports that, while the players involved in the bounty appeal have been told that former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will testify, Williams has “rejected repeated overtures to do so and continues to do so.”

There’s an easy solution to the problem. The NFL needs to tell Williams that he’ll participate, or he’ll never coach or consult or have any connection of any kind to the NFL again.

Already, Williams will have a hard time ever coaching again in the NFL, given the content of a sworn statement that fairly can be characterized as tattling on one of his players, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma. Right or wrong, plenty of NFL players will neither trust Williams nor have any respect for him.

But it’s believed that Gregg Williams will, once his suspension ends, become a consultant for the Rams, studying film and working on game plans away from the locker room and the practice field. The league, which expressly has conditioned his reinstatement on the extent to which he cooperates with future proceedings, needs to simply tell Williams that, if he doesn’t testify, he’ll never be reinstated.

And Tagliabue needs to tell the NFL that, if Williams isn’t compelled to appear, his sworn statement will be regarded as inadmissible and irrelevant.

While no proceeding of this nature entails subpoena power, the NFL has the ability to force its employees to cooperate, or risk consequences to their jobs. If the NFL chooses not to use that power over Williams, the league should be prevented from using any of the evidence he has provided.

[AsylumGuido]

The story above was preceded by this CBS report:

Tagliabue planning extensive bounty hearings for players who were suspended - CBSSports.com

Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue is aiming for extensive bounty hearings beginning Nov. 30, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

The NFL and NFLPA parties involved in the Saints "bounty" case had discussed preliminary plans to meet next Tuesday, and lawyers from the case still might. But the actual hearing before Tagliabue would be Nov. 30 at the earliest, sources said, with plans for it to take up to five days.

Tagliabue's format would call for a lengthy witnesses list with cross examination and a process very much in the vein of a true legal proceeding. That would be quite different from the way the appeals were held when was done under commissioner Roger Goodell, who is not a lawyer by trade (Tagliabue is). There would be cross examining and more of a courtroom feel, sources said. The sides are still confirming all parties can make this Nov. 30 date, with Tagliabue's hope it would begin then.

The hearing would start that Friday in Washington -- the Saints play the night before -- with players Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith, both active, while the other suspended players (Cleveland's Scott Fujita, on IR, and free agent Anthony Hargrove, do not currently have football obligations). Under this format, examinations and proceedings would run Friday-Sunday in Washington, where Tagliabue's law firm and the NFLPA are located, with the sides instructed that the process could continue the following Monday and Tuesday as well, in New York City.

Also, at this point, sources said, it has been communicated to the players involved that whistle-blower Mike Cerullo, a former Saints employee at the core of the claims against the players and coaches, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will both attend and testify.

Cerullo has indicated to the league he would take part, but Williams has rejected repeated overtures to do so and continues to do so, sources say.

This matter could still end up before federal judge Helen Berrigan, and she is watching closely. The closer this process comes to resembling a true court proceeding, the less likely she might be to intervene and either impose an injunction on the remaining suspensions, or make a ruling on the motion to have Tagliabue recuse himself from the appeal.

In the past, the NFLPA has requested multiple NFL Security investigators -- including Joe Hummel, the former head of the department -- to testify as witnesses.

There have also been internal communications among lawyers about requesting Browns offensive coordinator Brad Childress be present -- Childress was the Vikings' head coach at the time that Vilma allegedly placed a bounty on quarterback Brett Favre -- as well as former Viking Jimmy Kennedy, who vehemently denied claims he had participated in bounty investigations with NFL Security.

It's unclear at this point how many participants would be present and if any of these other men will take part -- and, as this is not a court of law, there are no subpoena powers involved. But, again, sources with knowledge of the process said it could be extensive. That would explain why the hearings could last as many as five days.