The NFL and it's teams, players and coaches aren't always angels, but nothing makes any of them happier than doing something good for someone else who needs it.
That's how former Tulane Green Wave Safety Devon Walker, paralyzed from the waste down after a hit in a September 2012 football game, found himself heading towards the New Orleans Saints practice facility Saturday afternoon. Right after his college graduation ceremony.
Walker got his degree in cell and molecular biology and then thought he was heading for some celebratory Oysters with his family only to find out he had a planned meeting scheduled.
That meeting with New Orleans Saints G.M Mickey Loomis and Head Coach Sean Payton. Both men had a gift waiting for Walker.
The gift, a contract for him to sign so he could become a Saint on Day 1 of the teams Rookie Camp.
Of course Walker signed and from all reports, the smile still hasn't left his face.
Though those same reports also say he's still looking for those Oysters too...
And he even went to the highest point of the first floor of the Manscraper to express his desires for Saints GM Mickey Loomis to keep his favorite tight end around...
Go the the 8:55 mark...
See what the Roman Numeral Classic does to folks...???
Well, this should be interesting. And amazingly, the news that the NFL voided suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton's contract should make the folks in New Orleans nervous.
Very nervous.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the extension Payton signed over a year ago, was cancelled by the league quietly and with some questions still remaining. Perhaps the biggest being "Can they legally do it?"
Schefter says the question is more about a clause that would let Payton leave if Saints GM Mickey Loomis got suspended, fired or quit.
Interesting.
Read Schefter's always insightful column RIGHT HERE
What should concern Saints fans is the REAL possibility Payton has coached his last game in New Orleans.
Payton's family lives in the Dallas area and there is a REAL possibility the Dallas job is going to be open at the end of the season. Jason Garrett has done little to inspire the Cowboys, owner Jerry Jones or a fanbase with growing anger.
And Payton would be a perfect fit.
We'll see how this plays out, but considering Payton isn't gonna coach in 2012 and Jerry Jones has no qualms about throwing money in people's faces, we would not be surprised to see Payton on the sideline in Jerry World for the 2013 season.
The NFL has re-issued the suspensions to the four players involved in the New Orleans Saints Bounty Gate investigation.
To wit:
Jonathan Vilma will be suspended a full season again,
Scott Fujita will be suspended three games again but it was reduced to one,
Will Smith will be suspended four games again and,
Anthony Hargrove will be suspended eight games again, but it was reduced to seven.
Those suspensions were overturned over a month ago by an arbitor who claimed that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell went down the wrong path in trying to investigate and suspend the four along with Saints coaches Sean Payton, Gregg Williams, and Joe Vitt. If Goodell were to follow proper protocol, the suspensions would have stuck and the arbitor intimated as much in his ruling.
Goodell resubmitted and, voila!
Here's the release from the league that was shared with Vilma:
“At our meeting, you confirmed that cart-offs and knockouts were part of a broader program in place among the Saints’ defensive players. You confirmed that these terms referred to plays in which an opposing player has to leave the game for one or more plays. You confirmed that, as Coach Vitt testified, an opposing player’s need for smelling salts under a trainer’s care was a consequence of the kind that the program sought to achieve and for which players were offered cash rewards from the incentive pool.
“I also find that you engaged in conduct detrimental by offering a substantial financial incentive to any member of the defensive unit who knocked Brett Favre out of the Saints’ 2009 NFC playoff game against the Vikings. (There is also credible evidence that you made a similar pledge regarding Kurt Warner in the immediately preceding playoff game against the Cardinals, but whether you made multiple pledges of that kind does not matter for purposes of the discipline that I have decided to impose.)"
The NFLPA, which probably, will appeal rather quickly (again) came back with this:
"For more than six months, the NFL has ignored the facts, abused the process outlined in our collective bargaining agreement and failed to produce evidence that the players intended to injure anyone, ever. The only evidence that exists is the League’s gross violation of fair due process, transparency and impartiality during this process. Truth and fairness have been the casualties of the league’s refusal to admit that it might have made a mistake."
The NFLPA has 72 hours to file their appeal and the players still, presumably, can participate in team activities until a final verdict is reached...
Ed Werder has more with FOSG Mike Hill and Michael Kim... and Werder's in your head...
((HT: ESPN))
Hmmmm...this could be interesting. It could be a bombshell or it could be an embarrassment to someone depending on whom you believe.
Monday afternoon, ESPN revealed a report on its "Long-Form" investigative show "Outside the Lines" that said New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis had audio from opposing teams communications piped into his box at the Superdome from 2002-2004.
For their part,the Saints have responded and called the report a bunch of Baloney. However, someone considers the charges serious because they apparently have been sent to the U.S Attorney's office.
We are guessing that those charges have something to do with wiretapping, but we aren't lawyers, so we could be wrong.
U.S Attorney Jim Lefflen told NOLA.com that he was made aware of the issue on Friday, but declined to say who informed him about it. (And he could but didn't say it might have been a 4-letter acronym)
The Saints also told the paper that they asked ESPN to provide them the information or some of background on what and why they were reporting the story.
This story is going to get ugly for someone really fast, but we don't know exactly whom that will be. Either Loomis and the Saints or ESPN isn't being truthful here. The ESPN story mentions a previous incarnation of a listening device put in place for former GM Randy Mueller to listen to his own teams conversations.
That seems to be the impetus for this story.
Without knowing who brought the information forward, it may never be proven. We respect the heck out of John Barr and his reporting skills, but this story doesn't connect the dots very well. It is very heavy on Federal eavesdropping and very little on how or why it was done.
We also might add the Saints weren't exactly world beaters during that time period and the report doesn't imply it is still being done.
Stay tuned here, like we said, this could get interesting. If true, Loomis is done, if not, ESPN is putting an awful lot on the line.
TUESDAY UPDATE: WWL-TV's Chick Foret was interviewed on the subject...
Barr tried to track him down for the piece...
Former Saints Exec Jim Miller was interviewed about it as well...
The NFL is suspending former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator (and now-almost current St Louis Rams DC) Gregg Williams indefinitely and Saints head coach Sean Payton for one year because of the team's bounty program.
And the league wasn't done...
The NFL is also suspending Saints GM Mickey Loomis for the first eight games in 2012, and Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.
And the league still isn't done...
The Saints will also be fined $500,000 and forfeit their second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts.
Oh, crap...
Here's early returns from the four-letter...
((HT: ESPN))
And when Mike Hoss interviewed former Saints exec Jim Miller over the weekend, Miller knew something was up...
((HT: WWL-TV New Orleans))
((nola.com))
