Sinners or Saints

 
 

Today the NFL suspended 4 players for their roles in the Saints bounty system. Most notably starting middle linebacker Jonathon Vilma who is suspended for 1 year, which was the biggest suspension of all 4 players. Anthony Hargrove was suspended 8 games, Will Smith 4 games, and Scott Fujita 3 games. This offseason it became public knowledge that the New Orleans Saints were running a bounty system. That wasn't even the most shocking part, as we also discovered they had been previously suspected of this outrageous behavior and told to stop and continued to use bounties anyway. This direct act of insubordination and disregards for the rules, player safety, and the overall integrity of the game all played a role in the major suspensions the NFL handed out earlier this year to the Saints coaches that were involved and even the GM. But we knew there would be other suspensions handed out once the league got a handle on which players they felt were involved. The players aren't taking to kindly to these suspensions and Adam Schefter is already reporting that all the suspensions will be appealed. I can't say yet whether the suspensions were just or not because the NFL has yet to really give us the major details on the evidence they found linking these 4 players and their roles in the bounty system. But I do know that this sort of thing cannot be tolerated. It hurts the integrity of the game and it puts players careers and livelihood at risk. As far as I'm concerned the Saints and the players that were involved are getting what they deserve.