NFLPA asks NFL to share information on player involvement in New Orleans Saints bounty scandal - NFL News
The National Football League (NFL) is gearing up to announce more punishments for the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal.
Having already severely fined and suspended the coaching staff and management of the Saints, the league is now working on fines and suspensions that will be given to the alleged 22 to 27 players involved in the pay-to-injure programme.
However, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) wants the league to provide them with evidence and details of their investigation before making any move to punish the Saints players.
NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith in an interview on Friday said that the league should turnover information before announcing punishments for players.
"It's very hard to have a productive discussion about punishment when one side has kept, to itself, all the information. What I would expect is to have a conversation soon and certainly it would be our expectation that the request for all information, as
it relates to particular players, will be provided before any discipline takes place."
Adding further he said.
"If there is direct evidence of a 'pay-to-injure' scheme implicating players or anybody involved, we are asking the league to turn over that information.''
A league spokesman however, has said that the NFL has repeatedly asked the NFLPA representatives to meet with them and work out the details of the punishments.
"It's up to them if they want to come in," the official said. "That still stands."
The Saints management and coaches have already been punished severely for running the bounty program for three years and initially lying to the league about its existence during an earlier investigation.
The franchise received a $ 500,000 fine while also having its second round draft picks taken away.
Head coach, Sean Payton, received a one year suspension, general manager, Mickey Loomis, will be suspended for eight games and assistant coach, Joe Vitt is also suspended for six games.
All three however, are expected to appeal their sentences on Friday.
According to the NFL investigation it is alleged that 22 to 27 players on the Saints defensive roster were involved in the scandal for three seasons spanning 2009-11.
The players are also alleged to have funded the bounty program with their own personal money and defensive line captain Jonathan Vilma has been named in the report for allegedly providing $ 10,000 in bounties to any player who knocked out quarterback Brett
Favre during a 2009 National Football Conference (NFC) championship game against Minnesota Vikings.
It remains to be seen whether both the NFL and NFLPA can work out their differences to get to the bottom of the Saints bounty scandal.
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