The NFL is preparing to issue penalties to individuals it determined where involved in the program, likely to include coaches, staff and players. It is anticipated that these measures will be announced before the end of this month. Meanwhile, the NFLPA is still conducting its investigation into the details of the program.
In an exclusive interview with ProPlayerInsiders, NFL Players’ Association spokesman George Atallah commented today on the NFLPA’s investigation into the New Orleans Saints pay-for-performance program, aka BountyGate.
The union had asked the NFL to delay announcing disciplinary actions until the NFLPA had finished their investigation. The NFL sent a letter to the NFLPA on Wednesday indicating that it would neither facilitate the union’s investigation nor delay the announcement of disciplinary actions until the union completed their investigation.
“We weren’t made aware of the league’s investigation until literally hours before the public announcement of it,” Atallah said. “So that puts us in a unique situation altogether. Plus, the unfortunately thing is, we’ve never experienced this type of behavior or alleged behavior in our league.”
The issue of player safety is front and center, as the allegations include cash bonuses for players making “cart off” hits on key players from opposing teams. Nothing is more central to the NFLPA’s mission than player safety, so this is a significant issue that should align the NFLPA with the league. “I know the league wants to take it seriously, but so do we,” Atallah said. “In order for us to work together on this, there’s got to be an open exchange of information.”
Atallah summed up the union’s position on the allegations very clearly. “We really don’t believe there’s any room for dangerous play or intent to injure in football,” he said. “We not only have a responsibility to protect the game for the players that we represent, but also to set examples for other levels and other sports, too. We feel that responsibility and our player leadership feels that responsibility.”
Unfortunately, the league’s response to the union has stood in the way of the two organizations cooperating even on an issue where their interests are aligned.
The letter from NFL attorney Jeff Pash to NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen states that current and former team officials and coaches were free to speak with union investigators, but that the NFL “will neither compel them to do so, nor direct them to refrain from doing so.”
“To be precise about the league’s position, they’re not going to help facilitate interviews, which is a problem because I’m not sure that any of the coaching staff or team officials will meet with us without the league’s approval,” Atallah said. “So obviously, there’s going to be a piece of the puzzle that’s naturally missing, and our perspective is that we want to make sure we do everything we can to exhaust all possible options to find out exactly what happened, protect our players, and work with the league to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
The NFL’s position will result in the union likely only getting one side of the story – from the players that they are free to speak with – while making it very difficult to get the perspective from the coaches and other team officials. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was said to be in charge of the program, and current Saints’ head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis have both apologized for the incident and acknowledged that “the violations disclosed by the NFL during their investigation of our club happened under our watch. We take full responsibility.”
The league plans to go ahead with announcing their disciplinary actions, but even that is not the end of the story.
“We have given your requests careful consideration, and have concluded that there is no basis for delaying the imposition of any discipline in this matter, and particularly not as it may apply to a club or any non-player employee of a club,” the letter went on to say. “Any disciplinary action affecting any player would be imposed only in a manner consistent with our Collective Bargaining Agreement. As you know, the sole authority to investigate and impose discipline in this matter rests with the Commissioner.”
The letter specifically references the new CBA, acknowledging that the union will still have full recourse of appeal of any disciplinary action imposed upon a player by the league, but the league is unwilling to allow more time or to consult on the range of potential measures prior to imposing them.
On an issue like this where the league and the union are certainly aligned on the big picture – ensuring player safety – there would seem to be more room for cooperation, and the union is committed to continuing to look for better ways of doing things and opportunities to collaborate with the league.
“Whether you’re talking discipline, whether you’re talking drug testing, whether you’re talking salary cap…. you always want to look at a better way of doing things,” Atallah said. “We just need to continue to look at it.”
