NFL doesn't differentiate payments in Saints bounty case

NEW YORK ? This was this type of behind-the-scenes stuff that typically doesn't quite make the cut on Inside the NFL. On a large flat screen in a board room at the league's headquarters, there's an image from a power point presentation that former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams showed to his unit on the night before it was shredded by the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC playoff game in January 2011.

On the slide there's a picture of Duane "Dog" Chapman, a real-life bail bondsman who stars in a reality TV show, Dog The Bounty Hunter.

The slide includes this text: "Collect bounty $$$! Make no apologies. Let's go hunting."

And this particular presentation, broken down by former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White during a post-hearing briefing for about a dozen reporters Monday, included a photo of rolled up $20 and $10 bills and messages about eliminating No. 17 (Mike Williams) and No. 24 (Marshawn Lynch).

The plan surely didn't work on Lynch, who scorched the Saints with a dynamic, 67-yard touchdown run. But with the NFL connecting the dots in its investigation of the Saints bounty program, the intent counts as much as any crime.

That was evident as suspended players Jonathan Vilma (one year), Anthony Hargrove (eight games), Will Smith (four games) and Scott Fujita (three games) had their appeals heard before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Implicated players might argue that a photo of "Dog" Chapman and rolled-up currency doesn't prove anything.

And of all the evidence shown, there was only one case where an actual bounty was paid, to Roman Harper, from a 2009 game.

Yet the NFL has stitched together a compelling case nonetheless.

There's a transcript of a ledger that fingers Vilma, former defensive end Charles Grant and marketing agent Mike Ornstein for pledging $10,000 each, while current interim coach Joe Vitt (whose six-game suspension begins in September) pledged $5,000 for a bounty on Brett Favre. The league says it has the original hand-written version of the ledger, but won't show it in order to protect the unnamed source who provided it.

Then there's sideline video where Hargrove winks and utters "Bobby (McCray), give me my money!" after it appeared Favre had been knocked out of the 2009 NFC title game.

Another exhibit, also transcribed from handwritten notes, contends Vilma contributed $2,000 in "seed money" to help launch the pool in 2009. The league claims Vilma, a defensive captain, provided start-up cash for the pool in 2010 and 2011.

There's an email from Ornstein, who has close ties to Saints coach Sean Payton, informing Williams of apparent payment arrangements.

Where this bounty business gets murky is in determining what money was earmarked to pay for the intent to injure, and what was pledged for a pay-for-performance pool that rewarded big plays such as interceptions and fumble recoveries.

The league makes no distinction, theorizing the money for plays causing injuries or not, makes it impossible to put the bounty case in a category separate from the pay-for-performance pools (now outlawed) that many teams had.

That's the heart of the players' Hail Mary defense. When Fujita left the hearing, he talked of an absence of proof of his involvement in a "pay-to-injure scheme." But the league says he funded the general pool, so it's in the same ballpark because it the bounties were allegedly paid out of the same pool.

In its evidence, the NFL showed several instances of how players funded their pool by contributing $200 here or there for "mental errors" such as penalties. It says it has an envelope where Vilma put $200 earned for big plays back into the kitty.

All together, the evidence surely shows the players were organized.

Buthy wasn't there more evidence of direct bounty payments?

The league says unnamed sources revealed much of the evidence was destroyed, as prescribed by Williams.

But the material and statements it has gathered ? corroborated by Williams and others ? is undoubtedly strong enough for Goodell.

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