Saints Bounty Suspensions: Sean Payton Suspended One Year, Team Loses 2nd Round Draft Picks

The NFL has suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton for one year for his involvement in a forbidden "bounty" program, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday.

According to Schefter, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis will be suspended for eight games and fined $500,000. The team will also be fined $500,000 and will lose a second round pick in the 2012 and 2013 NFL Drafts, Schefter reports.

@AdamSchefter
Adam Schefter

Sean Payton suspended one year. Mickey Loomis 8 game and $500,000 fine. Saints fined $500,000 and a second round pick in 2012 and 2012.

March 21, 2012 4:44 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

@AdamSchefter
Adam Schefter

Saints lost two second-round picks, one in 12 one in 13.

March 21, 2012 4:47 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

Per various reports, Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely.

More from Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press:

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was suspended without pay for the 2012 season by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was banned indefinitely on Wednesday because of the team's bounty program that targeted opposing players.

Handing down sweeping and serious punishment for a system that paid out thousands of dollars when hits knocked specific opponents out of games, Goodell also suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games next season, and assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.

In addition, Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away their second-round draft picks this year and next.

After the NFL first made its investigation public on March 2, Williams admitted to – and apologized for – running the program as the Saints' defensive coordinator from 2009-11. He was hired by the St. Louis Rams this offseason.

Goodell will review Williams' status after the upcoming season and decide whether he can return to the league.

The Saints now must decide who will coach the team while Payton is barred, his suspension is effective April 1, and who will make roster moves while Loomis is out. After the NFL made clear that punishments were looming, Payton and Loomis took the blame for violations that they acknowledged "happened under our watch" and said Saints owner Tom Benson "had nothing to do" with the bounty pool, which reached as much as $50,000 in 2009, the season the Saints won the Super Bowl.

The NFL said payoffs went to 22 to 27 defensive players for inflicting game-ending injuries on targeted opponents, including quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. "Knockouts" were worth $1,500 and "cart-offs" $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.

All payouts for specific performances in a game, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules. The NFL warns teams against such practices before each season, although in the aftermath of the revelations about the Saints, current and former players from various teams talked about that sort of thing happening frequently – although not on the same scale as the NFL found in New Orleans.

Punishment for any Saints players involved will be determined later, because the league is still reviewing the case with the NFL Players Association.

So far, though, the discipline for the Saints' involvement in the bounty scheme is more far-reaching than what Goodell did in 2007, when the NFL came down on the New England Patriots for illegally videotaping an opponent. Goodell fined the Patriots $250,000, stripped a first-round draft pick, and docked their coach, Bill Belichick, $500,000 for what was known as "Spygate."

From our partners

• The 50 Worst Sports Movies - Bleacher Report
• 20 Reasons Baseball Is The Worst - Bleacher Report
• Sports Stars Of The '90s: Where Are They Now? - Bleacher Report

Comments

[Mike Cofta]

02:52 PM on 03/24/2012

I wonder if the Saints will have to put an asterisk on all their "Super-Bowl Champion" merchandise now!! Mr. Brees might consider wearing some extra pads next season, too.

[butchcliff]

05:58 AM on 03/24/2012

'Severe' is putting it mildly

[kiddub]

11:51 AM on 03/23/2012

Huge suspensions to cover the brands butt. Any defensive coaching staff that doesn't fire up their team to bury the opponent isn't doing their job. I'd be surprised if 51% of NFL team's didn't have a similar program.

[Mike Cofta]

02:53 PM on 03/24/2012

...tell that to the judge...

[Al Manning]

12:12 AM on 03/23/2012

I'm a GIANTS Fan, and i like sean payton he is from Bill Parcell crew, with that being said everbody that knew about this and was part of it should be banned from football. I know people are saying that the punishment was excessive but what if someone was seriously injured and could no longer play because of it. An example needs to be set so this doesn't happen again. New rule. BOUNTIES WILL GET YOU A LIFETIME BAN

[capn moose]

05:12 PM on 03/22/2012

One hopes the NFL examines every hit during the Super Bowl game the Saints won, and in the playoff games leading to that Super Bowl. It is possible that some illegal hits were missed. Also, the NFL must question everybody to see if "bounties" were dangled in front of the defensive players with specific amounts and targets spelled out -- and then examine the film to see if "bounties" led to Saints victory because this or that opposing player was injured enough to affect the outcome of the games. Maybe that Super Bowl win should be withdrawn. As an avid football fan, I expect hard playing but no cheating, no deliberate injuries. Hey, my nose was broken at least 5 times in high school football, but nobody can be blamed.

[Ted Glass]

03:51 PM on 03/22/2012

WHO DAT!!
WHO DAT!!
WHO DAT GONNA NOT COACH THIS YEAR!!!!!

[Truthiness4Me]

03:05 PM on 03/22/2012

It still angers me when I think about Charles Martin body slamming Jim McMahon during the Bears-packers game during the 1986 season. That was the end of McMahon's career, he was never the same after that. Martin got a 2-game suspension.

[haychcago]

11:45 AM on 03/23/2012

yep, ur'e right... uknow he's dead and I wonder if he ever regretted it... probably not.

[Mike Cofta]

02:54 PM on 03/24/2012

...well, McMahon was never really the same BEFORE that hit either.

[amybirk]

02:09 PM on 03/22/2012

This is a hot topic ... check out this interview...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_RLkU9XB98

[magic215]

01:38 PM on 03/22/2012

c'mon does anybody else see this as excessive I MEAN REALLY EXCESSIVE

[Ted Glass]

03:47 PM on 03/22/2012

No

They cheated, then lied about cheating so they could continue cheating. And the cheating had to do with injuring other players. Williams shouldn't be allowed back.

[magic215]

04:38 PM on 03/22/2012

hello Mr.glass you'll have to excuse me one my team's former coaches was
Buddy Ryan the man i believe responsilble for bounties & sir plz dont tell me
your're naive enough that they were the only team responsible for this c'mon
Mr Glass i know you're smartere than that!!!!

[kiddub]

11:55 AM on 03/23/2012

They didn't cheat. They paid players to go out and inflict pain. It may be in contravention of the rules for payment for performance, but its not cheating. Injuring isn't cheating.

[haychcago]

11:52 AM on 03/23/2012

no, not fined enough

[notpersonal]

01:03 PM on 03/22/2012

Hey, if your boss tells you something is unacceptable, posts a poster up in your locker two times a year for four years, AND YOU STILL DO IT, you're lucky you got off with any chance at coming back to work at all.
Payton should have been banned for life simply for blatant disregard for Goodell's order.

[Heywood Jablowmie]

12:58 PM on 03/22/2012

Remembering that game is vivid for its pure vitriol.

Brett Favre was hit with horrid violence not expected in sport.

To a man, that team seemed to want to physically hurt him with a passion. It was as though they took pleasure in attempting to injure him.

It was not football.

To Favre's credit he took their best shots.

It took a ref to blow the game - twice - and give it to the offenders.

That Superbowl should be reconsidered.

[amwrite]

12:57 PM on 03/22/2012

I will never understand why folks who have so much already want so much more. Greed will get you nowhere. This is an example of that...that and whoever spilled the beans on the bounty case. You know that person must have been fired or something and this is their payback. Karma is a beeyatch!

[LeeLoPink]

12:53 PM on 03/22/2012

I'm waiting for the cries of illegitimacy of the Saint's one Superbowl win while their Bounty Practice was in full swing.

Where's the outrage?

[Ted Glass]

03:51 PM on 03/22/2012

This doesn't really affect the fact that they won the games. Yes they were paid to hit really hard. The other side of the ball wants to hit really hard too. It does mess with the competitive balance but to me their SuperBowl is still valid.

And no i'm not a Sains fan nor do i live in NOLA

[LeeLoPink]

05:06 PM on 03/22/2012

Oh, I was just asking a question and I don't disagree with you.
(Pats fan here).

[rkreyn]

12:20 PM on 03/22/2012

They don't call it the dirty boot for nothing. They earn that name everyday around that place.

[Bienville]

08:29 AM on 03/23/2012

Who calls what the dirty boot?

[drelectricsewr]

11:13 AM on 03/22/2012

He should never coach again.Ever in any fashon anywhere.Also he should stand and let a car (running back)what ever going 35 MPH hit him from behind unaware and splatter him to the ground at least twice. warner and farve payment