The Darkest Scandal in NFL History | Paid to Kill | NFL Documentary |

On January 14, 2012, the New Orleans Saints faced the Jim Harbaugh-led San Francisco 49ers 13-3 in the NFC Divisional Round. The New Orleans Saints were coming off a shaky victory against the Detroit Lions, overcoming a four-point deficit at the half and winning their final eight games of the regular season were determined to maintain their momentum and go toe-to-toe against the 49ers, a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in nine years led by players like patrick willis and dante wittner. It will no doubt be a tough battle of attrition, but a bomb was ticking. A dark secret that would soon come to light.

Saints defensive coordinator Greg Williams held a team meeting one night before the playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers and gave an impassioned speech. to his defensive players, a speech that filmmaker Sean Pamphlen managed to record in its entirety a recording that contained the grim secret of the Saints instructing his players to injure quarterback Alex Smith, running back Frank Gore Tight and Vernon Davis, Michael crabtree, kyle williams and running back kendall hunter, if completed. A big payday awaits a team of bounty hunters who would target some of the biggest names in football and become the subject of one of the biggest

scandal

s in NFL

history

January 15, 2009 New Orleans Saints hired defensive coordinator Greg Williams to help revive their lackluster defense that ranked 23rd in the league Sean Payton vehemently believed that Williams was the missing piece that would surely give them the Lombardi Trophy a year of redemption for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina Sean Payton was so impressed with Greg Williams that Peyton voluntarily took a 250,000 pay cut just to hire him as an offensive coach.

I've planned games against their defenses in the past and know the problems they create. He is an aggressive coach, but his units are always solid. Basically, we have a few pieces in place for him to work with. and I know he's excited to get started. Williams previously with the Washington Redskins in the 2004-2000 season. His aggressive blitz defense consistently ranked in the top 10 in the NFL. He was also the head coach of the Buffalo Bills for three seasons from 2001 to 2003 and defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans from 1997 to 2000, nicknamed the driver of aggression, Williams Blitz-heavy schemes and hard-hitting defense and They mercilessly instilled fear in opposing offensives.

Williams was systematic and willing to give up everything to gain an advantage. the field specializes in taking players who may not have been the most athletic or talented and turning them into ruthless, relentless defensive playmakers. Unfortunately, William's intense desire to win and gain an advantage on the field often blurred the moral line and questions began to arise as the New Orleans Saints opened the playoffs in the NFC Divisional Round against the Arizona cardinals the arizona cardinals led by 38 year old quarterback kurt warner warner had almost 4,000 passing yards and 26 touchdown passes in the season greg williams was always looking for an achilles heel team and in this case kurt warner's age was that heel with the saints having the likes of jonathan vilma roman harper and daryn sharper easily three of the hardest hitters in the league williams wanted to see how much more life warner had in him and he would soon find out at a team meeting the night before of the game, Williams said Warner should have been removed.

We're going to finish Kurt Warner's run tomorrow. Warner was beaten all night. Each shot was crueler and more violent than the last in Warner's 12th. NFL season, this may have been his most demanding game, but the play that would cause some raised eyebrows and accusations of sinister intent occurred with six minutes left in the second quarter, Kurt Warner, under pressure, forces the ball into cover and is intercepted by the defensive end. Will Smith and when Smith returned the ball, defensive end Bobby Mcrae saw an opportunity and decided to make the most of it, launching one of the fiercest hits of Warner's 12-year career, sending Warner several feet into the air.

Warner is seen disoriented lying on the field while his horrified wife watches from the stands. Darren Sharper would say that was the game-changing play the defense was looking for. Warner was briefly sent to the locker room and returned later that game. This would be the last game of Warner's heavily theorized career. that mccray's hit may have been the reason warner realized he could no longer take hits like that may have been one of the main reasons for his departure the saints defense dominated winning the game 45-14 the Concerns began to circulate around the league about Greg Williams overshadowing tensions during the game, but again at this point it was all speculation, but soon the speculation would be justified when the New Orleans Saints faced the Minnesota Vikings and the championship game of the nfc williams faced another future hall of famer nearing the end of his career, this was another excellent opportunity to show his aggressive defense to the world and test the 40-year-old farv's iron man reputation in a meeting team the night before the game, that old guy should have retired when I was there, did he retire?

You know, we're going to end his career tomorrow, we're going to force him to retire on long throws for 4,200 yards and he had 33 touchdown passes that season and showed no signs of slowing down. Little did I know I was the next target in one. of the biggest

scandal

s in nfl

history

pregame jonathan vilma new orleans saints pro bowl middle linebacker offered ten thousand dollars to anyone who would take brett favre out of the game the saying that money motivates was on full display This would be one of the biggest penalty games of Brett Favre's life similar in many ways to Kurt Warner's experience in the divisional round Williams blitzed what seemed like every other play and even the running plays Favre somehow ended up in the ground wincing in pain with 4 minutes and 27 seconds left in the first quarter after handing the ball off to percy harvin, the saints defensive end lowers his shoulder and walks away, val that defensive end was none other than bobby mcrae , the same player who made the blindside block on kurt warner mccray would soon earn the nickname quarterback

kill

a this was by far one of the worst meetings a quarterback has ever had and it didn't end with about two minutes left in the second quarter brett favre under pressure forces the ball into coverage where it is intercepted by jonathan vilma but so far as we catch the ball you see bobby mccray once again dive at farb's ankles as remy yodeley tackles him mcrae would be fined twenty thousand dollars for his illegal hits during the game the Saints won the game 31-28 in overtime the story portrayed the The public was that the New Orleans Saints defended themselves from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and reached their first Super Bowl, but the real story It was much darker.

In two consecutive weeks, the Saints had taken blatant cheap shots at opposing team quarterback throws that were undoubtedly intended to hurt, but this story wouldn't hit the media for another two years. The Saints won the Super Bowl, winning 31-17 against the Indianapolis Colts, bringing the first Lombardi Trophy to New Orleans, but suspicions about Greg Williams and his defense. would not go away and in the 2009 postseason an anonymous source contacted the NFL regarding this bounty program, but how did this bounty program work? Let me give you a summary. It would start with a lot of money raised from players and coaches and each week.

Before game rewards were announced, the reward system

paid

fifteen hundred dollars for removing players from a game and one thousand dollars for cards when a player was helped off the field, four hundred dollars for hard hits called wax and one hundred dollars. deduction for mental errors everything was systematically tracked if the bounties were not collected they would be put into the next week's pool so instead of 1500 for knocking out a player it would be a payout of three thousand dollars according to an anonymous former player . Williams also

paid

premiums for

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ing. shots in which you took the opposing team's star player out of the game and this was only for the regular season in the postseason the payments doubled and sometimes even tripled the nfl's investigation into these allegations stalled until the end of 2011. the nfl interviewed to all players and coaches denying the existence of any bounty system and the whistleblower later recanted his accusations, although it is safe to assume during Williams' tenure with the New Orleans Saints that the bounties were placed before each game, we will only cover incidents that are confirmed and are almost guaranteed a reward was obtained. placed The next notable confirmed bounty takes us to the 2010 wild card game between the New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks, although a bounty was placed on Hasselbeck for an undisclosed amount, the Seattle Seahawks offensive line did a great job protecting him during most of the time.

The night absorbed only a handful of hits and the only notable play was when Scott Channel charged Hasselback after the play sent him to the turf, so this reward was a bust. The next notable bounty entry was for Aaron Rodgers in the first week of the 2011 season. The bounty was said to be worth five thousand dollars. One of the most aggressive plays of the game was Jonathan Casius' blitz that threw Rogers to the ground like he was a rag doll. Casios landed two of the most violent blows on Rogers during the night, but failed to land either. real damage as for Donald Driver, that's a different story when he gets to the middle, Malcolm Jenkins attacks him while Driver stayed in the game.

Malcolm Jenkins quickly earned $400 for the hit. Next on the list is Jay Cutler, quarterback of the Chicago Bears. This one is a little different as it is based on accusations from Chicago Bears players rather than hard evidence, but there was no reason for Greg Williams to exclude Jay Cutler from the bounties and the number of hits Jay Cutler took. in this game makes you understand where the bounty accusations come from Cutler was fired six times and beaten countless more times. There was also a claim that a Saints player kicked Cutler in the throat, causing him to lose his voice, although he initially had trouble finding when and if this occurred.

I finally found the Plane Question with 14 minutes left in the third quarter, you see Jay Cutler walking and touching his throat as he looks toward the bench. Upon closer examination, you see that when Cutler is tackled, he lands on the back of one of the defensive lineman's cleats, immediately grabbing his throat, although most likely a bounty was placed on Cutler, there is no way to say whether this was intentional or not. You see the lineman move his legs as he hits the ground to line up where Cutler is falling. Let me know what you think in the comments below, however, a reward was exacted when Roman Harper knocked Earl Bennett out of the game with a brutal blow to the chest.

With this game, I'd say a couple thousand were collected and the Saints won comfortably 30-13 in large part for their aggressive play from the defense, the next notable tackle was against Cam Newton in the 2011 season, while the NFL only was able to confirm a bounty on Newton in Week 17, it's safe to assume a bounty was placed when they faced them in Week Five, so I'll include both. Here, ironically, week five was a much tougher week for Newton, who took more than his share of hard hits, some of which could have resulted in serious injuries. A great example occurred with 7 minutes and 28 seconds left in the third quarter.

Williams sends an all-out blitz. sandwiching cam newton between two hulking defenders with one hitting higher than the other causing his back to contort awkwardly as he hits the turf a manhandle, the passer's penalty was immediately called jonathan velma also tested the validity of superman's reputation from cam by dunking it in a qb fight as his helmet almost flew off his head vilma also took a free kick in a total blitz hitting the 6'5 cam newton like none other than greg williams time was running out as that more and more information from anonymous sources began to reach NFL officials the NFL investigation resumed and damning evidence would soon be uncovered according to quarterback Josh Freeman, former quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coaches They always warned their players to protect their knees when playing against the Saints, especially near the sideline, unfortunately, even with this knowledge in the 2010 season, Josh Freeman took a cheap shot from the safety.Malcolm Jenkins directly into his knee as he went out of bounds, luckily Freeman was not hurt, this shows that while the NFL was not aware of what was going on, it was apparently common knowledge among NFL teams this is how they played. the saints defense many players claim that bounties have always been a part of american football there is no better example of this than the famous bounty bowl bounty ball was a game between the philadelphia eagles and dallas cowboys in 1989, but what would make this game out so unique is the alleged bounties placed on cowboys kicker luis zendejas and quarterback troy aikman the 500 bounty on aikman's head yielded quick results as aikman was constantly under fire, forcing him to move on to tight coverage and taking sacks, there was nothing Aikman could do accusations that the rewards were in The game started after a play was called dead due to an encroachment penalty by the defense, but they didn't listen and threw Aikman to the ground.

Immediately Aikman's offensive line ran toward his defense and a fight ensued. Aikman took a beating and was benched in the fourth. fourth with only 54 passing yards and three interceptions the most notable play of the game involves kicker luis zendejas who supposedly had a 200 bounty on his head at the beginning of the season zendejas was the eagles kicker but was released after a series of misses kicks with the team in the openingbeginning of the second half zendejas kicked the ball then we cut him off staggering and going towards the wrong wing it is clear that zendejas has a severe concussion he is disoriented and in excruciating pain sindejas received a massive low kick that would make that coach jimmy johnson accused the eagles of setting bounties for troy aikman and luis zendejas it's true that bounties have been a part of the game for quite some time and there are probably countless games where bounties have been set up that we have no idea about, but What makes the saints bounty scandal so unique.

One league official put it brilliantly by stating that the Saints took a disparate concept and turned it into an automobile assembly line, making it efficient and ruthless with tentacles of reward reaching back to the head coach and general manager, methodical and calculated. , are words that are scattered in every article about the commission of the saints bounty scandal for hyperaggression, greg williams' ingenious plan would soon come to light and the world of the saints would collapse pamphlen director of espn 3430 run ricky run and the states united football managed to record william's entire meeting with his defensive players which contains one of the most graphic audio ever recorded in nfl history in this audio williams announced rewards for running back frank gore declaring something in the world to make sure that we kill frank gore's hit we want him running sideways we want his head sideways a reward for kendall hunter who he refers to as little 32 saying little 32 he has no idea what awaits him when he's on the sideline we have to give him turn around, go get that on the sideline William's reference to the sideline is the same thing Buccaneers coaches warn their players about is shown with the low hit to quarterback Josh Freeman's knee this audio evidence that a bounty was recommended for wide receiver kyle williams says we hit smith right there remember me remember me is what williams called hitting so hard the player never forgets got the first got the first here is the first win indication monetary through these actions, which I thought was strange since Kyle Williams wasn't a great playmaker, but it shows that no one was exempt from being targeted.

A reward is then announced for wide receiver Michael Crabtree. We need to decide if Crash Tree wants to be a fake prima donna or wants to be one. be a tough guy, become human, a common theme seen with the greg williams reward system, is not just hitting players hard and hoping they get hurt, but it is estimated that players with a history of Injuries are targeted, players with concussions are targeted, players with knee problems are hit. down a bounty on tight end vernon davis we have to decide how many times we can attack and we can put vernon davis's ankles on the boat a bounty on a quarterback alex smith alex smith in the preseason game when you guys avalanched that eyes that big williams so the states never apologize for the way we compete frank gore kendall hunter kyle williams michael crabtree alex smith and bernie davis were on the saints hit list and williams would do everything in his power to make sure they never get back on the field With Williams' bounties in place, the Saints were ready to compete, but the Saints were facing an equally forceful defense and would soon make their presence known when Pierre Thomas caught a ball and was knocked out by Dante Wittner , one of the toughest players of our generation. batters and lost the ball pier thomas did not return the niners had struck first and put williams on his heels this would be a total slug game williams responded with a vicious hit on quarterback alex smith by roman harper the saints defense he had taken the speech seriously, when kyle williams falls to the ground, you see jonathan velma fly aiming for his head, but he almost missed, kendall hunter took some hard hits, one of them a shot towards his leg as he went out of bounds and a shot to his head while swinging around the A-line, as for Alex Smith, he was constantly rested throughout the game and took the hardest hits of the lot.

This was perhaps one of the toughest playoff games of our generation, yet the Saints couldn't. keep up with the 49ers offense and lost 32-36, this would be greg williams last game against the new orleans saints on march 2, 2012, the nfl announced that after a lengthy investigation they had found evidence of a system of bounties in the Saints organization since 2009- The 2011 season managed by defensive coordinator Greg Williams this took the media by storm as each hour more and more information about the insidious bounty scandal was published according to the report of the nfl about the scandal about 27 players were involved in the program in a payment program that would pay for knockout hits at one point the reward fund reached $50 thousand at some point in the postseason a memo was sent to the entire league detailing the bounty scandal the nfl investigation also found that bounties were given to quarterback brett favre and kurt warner in the 2009 playoffs brett favre, however, he said he did not care about the bounty and expressed my feelings and what I say with all my heart, I really don't care what bothers me is that we didn't win the game.

Warner also had similar feelings and said the boys did do it. I don't think we would love to knock out Kurt or we would love to knock out Bret Farbell or Draw Brees or whoever, I think that's part of the game and I think that's part of the mentality, Warner said, however, not all athletes responded to In the news, professional running back Adrian Peterson claimed that in the 2011 season the Saints deliberately targeted his injured ankle and had to control his frustration and anger during the game during the NFL investigation Sean Payton also allegedly tried to cover up the obvious plan in The emails he sent to Reggie Bush's former marketing agent, Mike Ornstein, a shadowy figure who constantly contributed to the bounty fund by contributing five grand to injure Rogers in the season opener, at one point, Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, found out about the bounty Sister Greg Williams was employing and ordered Mickey Loomis, general manager of the Saints, to put a stop to it immediately, but he did not do as he was told.

Greg Williams in a statement expressed his regret for employing the rewards system, stating that I want to express my sincere regret and apology to NFL Saints owner Tom Benson and the fans of the New Orleans Saints for my participation in the reward program. pay for performance while he was with the saints, it was a terrible mistake and we knew it was wrong while doing it rather than getting caught. This should have stopped him. I take full responsibility for my role. Very sorry. I have learned a hard lesson and I guarantee that I will never participate in or allow this type of activity to happen again, but this was not the first time. has dabbled with bounties using them throughout his career former Redskins players, Bills and Titans players have come forward claiming they had a similar system when they played for Greg Williams, former NFL defensive back Matt Bowen, who played for Williams during his tenure with the Redskins, confirmed that the rewards were very frequent saying that the money came for more than just seeing a guy walk off the field rewards cheap shots whatever you want to call them are part of this game it's an ugly tradition that was exposed on friday with williams front and center from his time coaching the defense in new orleans, but don't just attribute this to him, you'll find it in many nfl cities.

This shows that it was not an isolated event, but something that Williams has employed throughout his career, no doubt causing countless injuries, but Bowen also suggests that Williams is not alone and is actually quite common in the NFL, as Some NFL players estimate that up to 40 percent of players participate in bounty systems. On April 5, 2012, audio of the bounty would be released, making the bounty scandal all too real. Roger Goodell was displeased with what the NFL could find and enacted some of the harshest punishments in NFL history Defensive coordinator Greg Williams was suspended indefinitely due to his planning and implementation of the bounty system Linebacker Jonathan Vilma was suspended for the entire 2012 season due to his leadership role with the bounties and Vilma offering a ten thousand dollar reward for Warner and for Farv's forced departure from the game during the 2009 playoffs.

Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the season 2012 for his knowledge that a bounty system existed and obstructing the NFL investigation twice in 2010 and in 2011 attempting to cover up the bounty system and defensive end Anthony Hargrove was suspended for the first half of the season for obstructing the investigation nfl mickey loomis general manager of the new orleans saints was suspended for the first time late games of the 2012 season defensive end will smith was suspended for the first four games of the season. Linebacker Scott Fujita was suspended for the first three games of the season for pledging a significant amount of money to the bounty fund during the 2009 playoffs.

Assistant head coach Jovit was suspended for the first six games of the season but it didn't happen. it ended there the saints were also fined five hundred thousand dollars and were forced to forfeit their 2012 and 2013 second round draft picks on july 26 vilma and seven other witnesses saints players and teachers proved under threat of perjury that Commissioner Roger Cadell misinterpreted the evidence denying that there was ever a reward system, but rather a system to award good plays and punish bad ones, stating that unnecessary roughing calls resulted in a loss of about two hundred dollars, so That the reward system would become counterintuitive, however, Vilma had little success in court in hopes of returning early from her suspension on September 7.

All four players appealed their suspensions and were lifted, but then reinstated around the fifth week of the regular season on March 30. Payton and vid. He filed an appeal but it was in vain and he would serve the entirety of his suspension on December 11. Former league commissioner Paul Tagliabue overturned all four suspensions Vilma Smith Fujita and Hargrove were free to return explains the reason for his ruling stating that he confirmed the facts Commissioner Godel's findings on the four players concluded that Hargrove Smith and Vilma, but not Fujita, engaged in conduct detrimental to the integrity and public confidence in professional football.

This entire case has been tainted by the coaches and other people in the Saints organization, Tagliabue did not deny the player's involvement but rather blamed the coaches for allowing this to happen, but Vilba was adamant that there was no reward of any kind. guy, continued to sue goodell for defamation even though tagliabue himself said there was considerable evidence that velma placed a ten thousand dollar bounty on brett favre in their nfc championship matchup thisbounty scandal raised bail in the eyes of so many viewers of what happens in the nfl behind closed doors when there is a huge amount of money at stake and even the slightest advantage can result in millions upon millions of dollars more, the morality to often becomes blurry.

Do I think Greg Williams was an evil individual or a coach who would do anything to win? That's really up to you. Greg Williams' line of thinking is undoubtedly Machiavellian, which reminds me of a passage from the book Prince written by Nicolo Machiavelli. Any man who tries to be good all the time is destined to be ruined among the large number of people who are not good. This is basically It means that a man willing to do things that are not necessarily good or moral when the situation demands it will always defeat the man who is constantly guided by morality, whether he is an athlete who takes performance enhancers to gain an advantage on the field or a player who loads up on painkillers to get over an injury, the NFL has some dark secrets. that are constantly hidden from the public, but eventually the truth always shows itself.

Greg Williams was reinstated by the NFL on February 7, 2013 and has been on a couple of teams, most recently the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets and is currently a free agent. Put your testicles in the gap of the sea.