NFL News & Rumors Digest

It may well be a small to soon to really tell if there’s genuinely something behind this new rumor, but it seems that the bad news keep on creating up against the New Orleans Saints. This has been a troubled offseason for the Saints, almost certainly it’s roughest ever. And we are talking about a team in a city that in 2005 was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. When the Saints General Manager Mick Loomis and the head coach Sean Peyton and starting quarterback Drew Brees were in a position to guide this team into winning a Super Bowl a couple of season ago, the squad reached it’s highest point.

But the bounty scandal took it’s first blow against the team and now, a second rumor hit’s the aura of a team that is certainly seeking a little less virtuous and angelic. According to the news cable that was released earlier nowadays, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in the Eastern District of Louisiana was anonymously told Friday that the New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had an electronic device in his Superdome suite that allowed him to monitor the visiting coaching staffs for nearly three NFL seasons. Evidently the method had been secretly re-wired to his private suite in the stadium.

Sure enough, ever because then, they have been a dominant squad in their league and just last season they broke some mayor offensive NFL records, but they just couldn’t make it to the Super Bowl. Then once again, the NFL at some point found the organization guilty of establishing and continuing (in spite of a first warning call from the league) to support a hurt-for-spend bounty system.

From there on it was up to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell to make an example of the Saints and gave them the most sever punishment ever recorded. New Orleans’ head coach Sean Payton was suspended without having pay for the complete subsequent season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, from coaching in the league. Goodell also banned Saints common manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight typical-season games subsequent season. And just to finish them off, the NFL fined the Saints $ 500,000 and took away their second-round draft picks for the next two years. So yes, so far, this has been one particular heck of a preseason for New Orleans.

The massive problem right here is that the Saints, or at least Loomis, as it appears that the accusations are placed upon him, could not only be facing and investigation by the NFL, but he could very easily be accused of a federal crime, for inflicting with the regulations set upon the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 which explicitly prohibits any person from intercepting communications from yet another person using an electronic or mechanical device. According to the rumors, Loomis was in a position to listen to the opposite team’s conversations from 2003 all the way up to 2005, the season when the Saints had go let go of the Superdome as it initial worked as a shelter and then had to undergo several repairs immediately after the hurricane damaged the structure. It is nonetheless uncertain if an investigation is going to be opened by either the federal, state, or local government. As far as we know it’s uncertain no matter whether the NFL is going to make theirown investigation. 1 factor is for confident, the rumor is out there and spreading quickly.

(About:) This post was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For far more news see: NFL – New Orleans Saints are involved in yet another scandal.

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NEW ORLEANS (NFL) – The New Orleans Saints started their voluntary offseason workouts Monday below unusual circumstances — circumstances that were not solely limited to the fallout from their “bounty” scandal.

Saints quarterback — and unquestioned team leader — Drew Brees was noticeably absent from the day’s workouts, as the franchised signal-caller continues to engage in a contract dispute with the team. 1 Saint, whose success is especially tied to Brees’ presence on the field, mentioned Tuesday enough is sufficient, it’s time the team signed Brees to a long-term deal.

“I feel it’s very important,” tight finish Jimmy Graham told AM-870, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I can keep in mind last year, in the course of the lockout, other teams, they didn’t get with each other. Drew orchestrated and paid for a lot of the younger guys and even got me a spot to stay and said, ‘Jimmy, I want you here.’ He paid that out of his own pocket for all of us to be here training together and we saw what that translated into and what that meant as far as us jelling.”

Added Graham: “I’m not certain what’s going on or all the particulars but I just want him back as soon as potential.”

Last week The Instances-Picayune, citing a source, reported that Brees was really upset at the prospect of not attending the start of workouts simply because “he desires to be there for his teammates.” A supply told NFL.com’s Steve Wyche last Friday that there has been no movement in contract talks among the two sides.

Brees spent Monday in New York at a meeting in between the NFL and NFL Players Association in which the Saints’ “bounty” scandal was discussed, amongst other troubles.

Graham speedily became one of Brees’ preferred targets last season, recording 99 catches for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns and emerging as a single of the leading tight ends in the league.

(About:) This report was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For far more NFL news see: Saints’ Graham wants Drew Brees signed.

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NEW YORK — The NFL and NFLPA are meeting on Monday, with heavy-hitters in the space to talk about potential sanctions against players in the Saints’ “bounty” scandal affair.

Union officials arrived at 11 a.m. ET, with NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith top New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and ex-Saints LB Scott Fujita, now with the Cleveland Browns, in the league office at 345 Park Ave. Both Brees and Fujita are members of the NFLPA’s executive committee. Fujita is 1 of the central figures among the players involved in the NFL’s 3-year investigation.

Each the NFL and the union declined to comment on the meeting, which is expected to wrap up in the afternoon.

Also part of the union’s contingent were NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth, union lawyers Richard Berthelsen and Heather McPhee, as well as Fulbright and Jaworski lawyer Richard Smith, the outside counsel the PA hired to deal with the Saints case.

The league already sanctioned the team itself, as well as New Orleans common manager Mickey Loomis, head coach Sean Payton and assistant head coach Joe Vitt, and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. All but Williams appealed the penalties, but the punishments were upheld by the NFL. Payton’s season-lengthy suspension started out on Monday.

Loomis has been suspended for eight games and assistant head coach Joe Vitt for six games for their involvement in the plan, in which defensive players had been financially rewarded for injuring opponents from 2009 to 2011. Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely for his role in the scandal.

The league has yet to announce player punishment for the “bounty” program that has rocked the Saints organization.

Jonathan Vilma is widely expected to get the harshest punishment among the Saints players from the league, but other people could be in the crosshairs as well. The union interviewed Brees, as well as Fujita and defensive captain Will Smith at its player representative meeting last month in Marco Island, Fla.

Fujita also has a close relationship with Steve Gleason, the former Saint stricken with ALS who invited filmmaker Sean Pamphilon into a defensive meeting on the night prior to the team’s NFC Divisional Playoff. That’s where Pamphilon recorded Williams’ considerably-publicized speech calling for Saints players to target 49ers players’ injuries.

The union was conscious of the tape before it was released by Pamphilon, and issued a statement Monday confirming that.

“The NFLPA was conscious of the existence of the Gregg Williams audio prior to its release,” the statement said. “We learned of the tape as component of our work to acquire any and all data associated to an alleged spend-to-injure scheme. We had no manage of the content material and did not make a determination on the method of its release. To date, the NFL has not supplied the NFLPA with detailed evidence of the existence of such a plan.”

(About:) This post was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For far more NFL news see: Drew Brees, Scott Fujita, DeMaurice Smith meeting NFL officials.

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All parties who appealed their punishments in the New Orleans Saints’ “bounty” scandal will have their circumstances heard Thursday at NFL headquarters in New York, several sources said and the league later confirmed.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will listen to appeals from the Saints ($ 500,000 fine, two lost draft picks), coach Sean Payton (suspension for the 2012 season), common manager Mickey Loomis (eight-game suspension) and assistant head coach Joe Vitt (six-game suspension), according to league spokesman Greg Aiello. Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, didn’t appeal his indefinite suspension.

Goodell, who will hear and rule on the appeals, has said he hopes to expedite the process. There is little thought any discipline would be decreased, but the appeals approach could buy all parties much more time to chart their futures while punishment is becoming administered.

Payton has spoken to his old boss, former Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells, about possibly taking over the Saints while he is suspended.

The NFL has however to rule on the 22 to 27 players cited in the bounty scandal, but discipline could be meted out in the near future. NFL security and league officials met with representatives from the NFL Players Association on Monday to go over evidence.

Goodell mentioned he hopes to obtain a recommendation from NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith relating to player discipline before ruling. However, NFLPA sources said Smith might not provide counsel on punishment.

Goodell has sole authority to punish players.

According to the league, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered $ 10,000 to any New Orleans player who sidelined Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre throughout the NFC Championship Game in the 2009 season. No other players involved have been publicly identified by the NFL.

(About:) This write-up was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For far more NFL news see: Appeals in Saints ‘bounty’ case to be heard Thursday by Goodell.

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NEW YORK — This is the week in the New Orleans Saints “bounty” affair in the course of which all parties will have what could be their final probabilities to be heard before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. And Goodell hopes that all will have rested their case by the finish of the week.

With a Monday afternoon meeting with the NFL Players Association looming, and four appeals on his docket for later in the week, Goodell spoke of pursuing a conclusion in the Saints scandal as he made a promotional appearance at the league’s new pop-up store in midtown Manhattan.

“I consider we all need to move forward,” Goodell stated. “I think it’s crucial for all of us to be open about what we’ve been able to find. We’ve released it publicly. We’ve given the NFLPA two of our confidential reports, which we’ve shared with our clubs — they’ve gotten the very same report. And we’ll have the meeting these days, hopefully they’ll get some much more data, we’ll get a recommendation from them.”

The union position has been that it’s not the NFLPA’s location to make a recommendation on the severity of sanctions set to hit a quantity of its members, some percentage of the 22-27 Saints cited in the league’s 50,000-page report. Rather, according to sources, the NFLPA’s legal team that arrives in New York Monday was coming to gather further clarity on the scope of evidence against players in the case.

That, according to Goodell, will not be a problem.

“For the last month, we’ve produced it clear that we’d be happy to share the information,” the commissioner stated. “I’ve said from the very first moment I told (NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith) about this details that I’d be happy to share it with him, and make positive he understood what happened.”

The league already has levied punishments against the club itself, common manager Mickey Loomis, coach Sean Payton, assistant Joe Vitt and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. All but Williams have filed appeals, and all will be heard by the finish of the week, with the expectation that choices will come rapidly.

Goodell was asked if Payton and Loomis will meet with him Tuesday, and answered, “I don’t know however. I think it’s later this week.”

But the commissioner was quite clear about his feeling on why stringent discipline was needed.

“This has been going on for 3 years,” Goodell stated. “We’ve been investigating this, we’ve met with numerous personnel with the Saints. And for 3 years, they denied this was going on. It’s clear it was going on, and that’s one particular of the factors the punishment is harsh. I feel, from our standpoint, we want to locate out (through the appeal) if there’s info that we’re not conscious of and take that into consideration, and we’ll deal with it from there.”

When asked why the investigation took so long, Goodell said, “Because they denied it — they denied it repeatedly. And ultimately, we were in a position to get a credible supply that came up late last year that gave us information that created it clear that it was going on.”

Smith and the union’s legal team met with Saints quarterback Drew Brees and defensive end Will Smith, and ex-Saints linebacker Scott Fujita at the organization’s player rep meeting in March in Marco Island, Fla., to collect far more data.

The union has also hired outside counsel to deal with the case, and has told players that criminal charges are attainable, but a really remote possibility. Asked about the possibility of criminal charges against the team, executives, coaches or players, Goodell said, “I don’t know. That’s up to the lawyers. We have to focus on our element of the procedure, which is to evaluate all the information and make determinations.”

In the meantime, Payton has acknowledged talking with Bill Parcells about taking his location on an interim basis. Some have criticized the concept, saying Payton shouldn’t be in a position to pick his successor, but Goodell saw it differently.

“I don’t agree with that,” Goodell stated. “At the finish of the day, these are management choices that (owner) Tom Benson has to sign off on. He’ll get recommendations, from Sean and Mickey, I’m positive, and other folks, and make his determination. If it ends up getting Parcells, and they’ve gone through the complete approach, that’s their choice. They need to have to make these choice.”

As for the possibility of a Parcells return, Goodell mentioned, “Bill’s a wonderful coach, and he will add a lot of personality and intrigue, and he’s as competitive as they get. I’m confident he’ll do a great job.”

Also brought to Goodell’s attention was the “Save Sean Payton” rally held in New Orleans more than the weekend. The backlash in New Orleans wasn’t among his concerns.

“We have 32 clubs. We have guidelines in the league. And when guidelines are violated for three consecutive years and they deny it, there are going to be consequences,” Goodell mentioned, noting he’d talked to “dozens” of players in the last handful of weeks. “That’s the way it works. We have fans in 31 other markets that want to make confident the game is played the right way. I know the fans in New Orleans get frustrated by what happened, and I understand that, but they also want the game played the correct way, and we’re going to make certain that.”

Adhere to Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.

(About:) This post was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For much more NFL news see: Goodell: ‘We all require to move forward’ from Saints’ scandal.

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PALM BEACH, Fla. — New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson addressed his fellow owners Monday morning concerning his team’s “bounty” scandal, according to league sources who had been in attendance.

Benson’s comments weren’t categorized as an apology for the scandal that resulted in coach Sean Payton being suspended for the season, common manager Mickey Loomis being suspended for eight games and the team being fined $ 500,000 and docked two draft picks. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely.

It was an “appropriate” address, according to 1 team owner, who echoed others who stated Benson spoke about feeling negative about his team’s involvement with bounties. Benson also reiterated he was unaware about bounties that awarded his players for making large hits and intentionally trying to harm opponents.

“He was disheartened about the scenario,” Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said. “He was very supportive of his men and women. His tone was fantastic.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wouldn’t go into specifics about what Benson stated, only revealing that the Saints’ owner was “open” and “disappointed.”

Benson didn’t address the media.

Follow Steve Wyche on Twitter @wyche89.

(About:) This write-up was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For a lot more NFL news see: Saints’ Benson addresses fellow owners more than ‘bounty’ scandal.

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The players cited by the NFL in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal are expected to face discipline, but the announcement of their punishment could come right after the league sanctions executives, coaches and the Saints organization, a supply with knowledge of the scenario said Saturday.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could rule as soon as Monday against Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, head coach Sean Payton and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams — now the Rams defensive coordinator. All have acknowledged the pay-for-performance “bounty” plan in statements immediately after the league announced the scathing findings of its months-long investigation on March 2.

Suspensions, fines and the loss of draft picks are all possibilities — if not probabilities.

The league could hold off on announcing punishment for the 22-27 players, possibly because of the sheer volume of players involved. The NFLPA asked the NFL not to discipline players just before it conducted its own investigation, but that request is not believed to factor heavily into the attainable delay in the punishment toward players.

A league official said players will be held culpable because they mainly funded the bounty pool, which, according to the league investigation, rewarded players for huge plays and injuring opponents.

Follow Steve Wyche on Twitter @wyche89.

(About:) This report was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NFL news see: Saints players cited in scandal could see delayed penalties.

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New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and head coach Sean Payton are in New York to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL security concerning the ongoing investigation into the bounty scandal, according to a supply with knowledge of the scenario. Benson and Payton met with league officials over the weekend, as well, according to the source.

The NFL’s investigation continues to be categorized as “ongoing,” however it is unclear regardless of whether these discussions entail far more fact discovering or if Benson and Payton are being briefed about the expected forthcoming sanctions that could contain fines, the loss of draft picks and suspensions.

Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis, the Saints organization and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams — currently the Rams defensive coordinator and the central figure in the case — had been all cited for “conduct detrimental,” by the NFL following a months-lengthy investigation.

Loomis and Payton issued a joint statement accepting responsibility. Williams also issued a statement saying the “pay-for-overall performance” plan occurred under his watch, that he was involved and that he failed to stop the practice that is against league rules. The league also cited 22-27 players with partaking in the bounty program from 2009-2011, which was primarily funded by the players, according to the report.

Players were rewarded for making large plays but also for trying to injure players, according to the league’s findings. Awards of $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 had been mentioned to be available for players whose hits resulted in opponents getting carted off the field or knocked out of a game completely. The league’s investigation singled out linebacker Jonathan Vilma for offering up $ ten,000 in bounty income.

An NFL supply stated that the players will be dealt with accordingly and also are culpable, even even though executives and coaches have mainly been the ones mentioned.

The NFLPA plans to conduct its personal investigation with the goal to locate out if players had been persuaded or “coerced” into participating in the plan. No timetable has been set to punishment to be handed down, even so, it is believed it is coming sooner rather than later so the Saints and the Rams (in Williams’ case) can re-organize their coaching staffs and rosters in essential.

Follow Steve Wyche on Twitter @wyche89.

(About:) This post was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For a lot more NFL news see: Punishments in Saints’ scandal expected sooner rather than later.

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