It came as a shock that NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, had been placing bounties on opponents’ key players over the past three seasons. However, it only revealed an aspect of the game that has been kept under wraps for years.
Under the guidance of former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, defensive players for the Saints had been competing for cash rewards for injuring other players during games. Bounties in the past had been placed on star players like quarterback Brett Favre.
Cash incentives for players are nothing new to the NFL. Players have been offered cash for interceptions, touchdowns or for just simply winning the game.
While not unheard of, placing bounties on players is extremely illegal. They put the safety of other players in jeopardy.
In a time when the NFL has faced lawsuit after lawsuit due to the past ways they’ve handled player safety, this is the last news commissioner Roger Goodell wanted to hear.
It’s baffling as to why Saints players would let a bounty program exist in their locker room.
Besides being illegal, it’s disheartening that players would try to deliberately hurt an opposing player. Football is a physical sport, but it’s also a career.
Why a player would attempt to ruin a fellow player’s career for a few thousand bucks—especially when they’re making millions—is tough to grasp.
This situation also draws from the leadership of Saints head coach Sean Payton. While Payton wasn’t the one directly involved in setting up the program, he was well aware of the bounties. Letting this conduct slide in his locker room diminishes the respect for one of the NFL’s elite coaches.
To prevent further misconduct from happening in the NFL, Goodell needs to drop the hammer on the Saints.
They’ve already traded away their first-round draft pick this season, but future first-round picks should be taken away from the team. Williams, even though he is now with the Rams, should be suspended for the season as well as Payton. The Saints should also have to pay plenty of fines as well.
There is a good chance there are other teams out there running similar bounty programs as the Saints. Every team is out to win and if they think injuring star players can help, bounties seem like a plausible solution to make this happen.
Hopefully, stern action taken by the league on the Saints will dissuade other teams from making the same mistake. As much as we love watching the big hits, we also want to keep these players on the field.
Chase Doerr is a senior journalism major and assistant opinions editor for the Daily 49er.
