The NFL has provided the NFL Players Association with so-called “evidence” in the Saints bounty case. Though the documents are far from concrete evidence, they represent the most material the union has seen from the league’s investigation to this point.
Today, the NFLPA’s outside counsel, Richard Smith, issued a statement questioning the process, fairness and the evidence of the NFL’s bounty investigation. Smith said, “The unfair discipline of players for their alleged involvement in a pay-to-injure/bounty program violated the Commissioner’s duty,” and “the conduct of the Commissioner and his representatives has undermined the fundamental process contemplated by the CBA.”
To read his full statement click here.
On Friday, the NFL provided 16 exhibits, totaling less than 200 pages of documents, to the NFLPA of “evidence” that would be used against the four players punished. Today, Roger Goodell heard the appeals of Jonathan Vilma, Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove and Will Smith at a hearing in New York City. Goodell informed the players that the league will not offer any witness at the hearing who created the documents.
The long-awaited release of evidential information relevant to the case follows months of the union requesting—and the league repeatedly rejecting—information gathered during the league’s investigation, which the league said consisted of “over 18,000 documents,” into the Saints’ alleged bounty program. Per the CBA, the NFL was forced to provide documents three days before Monday’s hearing.
An NFLPA memo titled: “Information from NFLPA regarding NFL’s ‘evidence’” lists what the players union was able to discover over the weekend. This is an excerpt of that memo:
“The following is what the Players Union was able to discover during the course of Father’s Day weekend:
1. Despite the length of the Commissioner’s investigation and the experience of those involved, the fact is that the slides provided by the NFL, and relied upon as a basis for discipline, were never shown to any Saints coaches for explanation by NFL Investigators.
2. Based upon the Players Union’s limited investigation and interviews of relevant personnel (including current and former Saints players, coaches and individuals who attended all defensive meetings), we have been able to provide these individuals’ explanations of several of the relevant slides upon which the Commissioner admittedly based his discipline on the players and presumably the coaches.
3. The interviews of the individuals who were actually present at the defensive meetings when
Coach Williams used the inflammatory words (the words that the League has made the focus of its public campaign) have enabled the Players Union to determine that Coach Williams’ words were motivational, not literal.
4. The Players Union has learned that Mike Ornstein told the NFL and the Commissioner personally that:
a. He never sent the email directly to Coach Sean Payton (as reported by the media and leaked by the NFL);
b. He never intended the email to be a “bounty” on any NFL Player; and
c. He advised the Commissioner of a message from Gregg Williams indicating that the Saints never took the email as a “bounty” on any player.
5. The NFL has never informed the players of any of this exculpatory or mitigating evidence.”
Among the most noteworthy new information is a document titled “Coach Williams’s Language.” This page provides definitions of some “inflammatory” terminology purportedly used by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, such as “cart-off,” “whack” and “impact play,” which have been part of the NFL’s public smear campaign against the players.
According to this document of definitions, “A ‘cart-off” is simply a hard hit. It does not literally mean that a player was carted off the field.” A “whack,” more commonly called a “cross-body tackle,” is defined as: “The best way for a small tackler to take on a larger player. Saints players were often times undersized and Coach Williams used this term to try to improve tackling technique.” The document defines an “impact play” as “a 4th-quarter play when the game was on the line. It could be any number of plays, whether it be a great tackle, interception or a pass breakup.”
Earlier Monday morning, Fujita, Hargrove and Smith released a strongly-worded statement. Read the statement here. Goodell has until Thursday, August 5 to respond to Vilma’s defamation lawsuit.
Read more about the “evidence” that the NFL provided to the NFLPA for yourself (PDF link is below), and make your own determination about the exhibits.
By Khalil Garriott follow us on twitter @playerinsiders & @khalilgarriott
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