New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis' appeals to be heard Tuesday - NFL News
As reported by sources earlier the New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis are appealing their suspensions with the National Football League (NFL).
The NFL will hear the separate appeals on Tuesday, at their New York headquarters and a decision will be released within days.
The appeals process will be quick just like decisions on players punishments are made during the regular season and it seems unlikely that the league will overturn any of the suspensions handed down.
Both Payton and Loomis will appeal separately on Tuesday.
The date for the appeal by Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt has still not been decided. It is also likely that New Orleans as a franchise will also appeal the fines and the removal of their second-round draft picks for two seasons.
An NFL report early in March revealed the existence of a bounty program in the Saints defensive roster run by the then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
The report also revealed that both Payton and Loomis were aware of the program run by 22 to 27 Saints players and did nothing to stop it in the three-year period.
It was alleged that the Saints paid bounties to defensive players for injuring or knocking out targeted opponents with bounties ranging from $ 1,000 to 1,500.
The NFL came down hard on the franchise and delivered some of the severest punishments in the history of the league.
The Saints as a franchise were fined $ 500,000 in addition to having their second round draft picks being taken away for 2012 and 2013.
Sean Payton received a one year suspension for giving his silent approval to the scheme with the suspension starting from April 1st.
Loomis and Vitt were handed eight and six-game suspensions respectively and the league is yet to announce punishments for the players involved in the illegal program.
Payton seems resigned to being suspended for the entire year and will use the appeal process to work out the details of his suspension including the level of contact he will be allowed to maintain with his team.
More details will emerge as the appeals get underway although it looks highly unlikely that any suspension will be overturned.
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