I haven't heard about an e-mail chain.

I think he's referring to some report that said The NFL found and showed Sean Payton an email from Mike Ornstein, I believe it was, saying that one of the players told him (meaning Ornstein) that GW offered him a certain amount of money to hit Rodgers.

Can't remember who the player was or how much he was offered, and don't know the source of this info... So it's all sketchy to me.

While that may be a part of it, he graded out at one of the worst defensive tackles in the league last year if I'm not mistaken.

I'd be okay giving him the vets minimum to be our 4 tackle on the roster.

That seems to be what the NFL considers their biggest piece of evidence that Sean knew about the program, and didn't stop it of course.

From what I know, Ornstein is an ex felon, and I have no idea why he stays in contact with the Saints. The fact that someone like him sends an email and it is taken as solid fact by the NFL, makes me scratch my goatee in wonderment.

Yep, i'll give you that. 30 and 37 combined tackles in two seasons, probably helped Ellis have better seasons. Ok, yeah, but prior to New Orleans he never notched more than 5 combined tackles. Last year in Minnesota he had 15 combined tackles.

So, I'm not sure about him.

As soon as the NFLPA does their thing - we'll need to find out where we'll be regarding suspended personnel.

That's the next big hurdle...

I got it wrong, Ornstein wasn't talking about a player, apparently he was just talking about himself... Here's a piece of an article where I read about it:

(The league said that when Payton was interviewed this year about the bounties, he claimed to be unaware of the program, which was contradicted by others who had been interviewed. The investigation found that before the Saints’ season-opening game in 2011 against the Green Bay Packers, Payton received an e-mail from a close associate — believed to be Mike Ornstein, a marketing agent who is a convicted felon — that stated, in part, “PS Greg Williams put me down for $5000 on Rogers.” When Payton was shown the e-mail during the investigation, he acknowledged that it was a bounty on Rodgers, the Packers’ quarterback.)

I don't know how that email proves anything. Gregg Williams put him down for $5000 on Rodgers what? Getting sacked? Throwing an interception? Discount double check?... It's vague at best.

I know what you mean there, but sometimes guys need to be in the right environment, where they are motivated to succeed. He did well here, so it's worth considering at a low price.

And this year's team should be nowhere close to that environment.

I just hope the environment includes making tackles, I mean, actually making tackles.
Ayodele was one of our most productive players in the middle.
He and Ellis worked well together. I would love to see him back if possible.
If he is the best we can come up with, I'd be OK. Our defensive gutt will be key.
If our front four can hold their own, the other seven jobs become much easier.