The NFL Comes Down Hard on Saints for Bounties for Injuries Scandal

The NFL’s handed down punishments for the New Orleans Saints bounties scandal, in which players were offered financial incentives to cause injuries to players on opposing teams, and they’re definitely precedent setting. According to James Varney at the New Orleans Times-Picayune: “ The NFL has suspended New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton for a full year following an investigation into a bounty program the league said the Saints employed from 2009 to 2011, according to internet reports.New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis was also hit with an 8-game suspension, according to reports, and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, now with the Rams, has been suspended indefinitely.” For Williams, at least, that punishment seems justified. He was told to shut down the bounties program, which he was administered, and didn’t. Both for his refusal to respond to his chain of command, and the fact that he’s become an emblem of a culture the NFL is desperately trying to change, it’s not clear he should be in the football business of the future.