The newest scandal that has the football world buzzing is the alleged bounty system that former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams operated during his time in New Orleans. Williams was recently hired by the St. Louis Rams & reunited him with former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher. According to some current and former Saints players, Williams offered up to $8,000 for hurting star offensive players. It was an extra incentive for his defense to improve their play & its been reported that he implemented the program during their Super Bowl season in 2009 as well. The Saints' defense was ranked in the mid-20s every season when Williams ran the defense so its hard to say how effective the program was, if it existed. The Saints aren't the only ones being investigated for the program. The Washington Redskins are being investigated as well. Williams was the defensive coordinator with the Redskins during the second run of Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs from 2004-2007. During Williams' tenure with the Redskins, the defense was ranked in the top 10 in three of the four seasons he was there. The fallout of the investigation could have serious consequences should the allegations are found to be true.
For starters, the Saints & Redskins could lose draft picks in the upcoming draft in April and in future drafts as well. Now, the NFL's dark secret program is being pushed back into the spotlight again. This practice is nothing new to football at all. During the 1985 Super Bowl run of the Chicago Bears, Buddy Ryan implemented the bounty program on every team to ensure their title as the greatest defense of all-time. He also made it public when he became the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. More recently, the Baltimore Ravens defense as a whole, placed a bounty on wide receiver Hines Ward for his dirty hits on Ravens defenders during the height of their heated rivalry. In that case, the NFL sent a memo stating that if a bounty was real that they would be suspended. Even though the Ravens didn't get to Ward, they got to Rashad Mendenhall instead during his rookie season. Ray Lewis broke Mendenhall's shoulder that put him out of the season.
In this case, its clear that somebody in the Saints organization or within the defense had it out for Williams and decided to start talking. This also brings in the question of dealing with issues within the locker room. Even from my playing days, anything that occurred within the confines of the team, stayed with the team. Knowing that, the code of silence has been broken, and now the Saints and Gregg Williams will pay a serious consequence for a practice that's been in existence for decades. Let the blame game begin.
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