NuNu318

NFLPA has responded:

Via PFT's Florio

"Predictably (given the inability of the NFL and NFLPA to agree on anything right now), Smith disagrees with Goodell’s contention. “At no point did I reach some sort of agreement with Mr. Goodell that, in exchange for delaying the NFL’s imposition of discipline on players, the NFLPA would conduct its own investigation and share the results of that investigation with the NFL,” Smith said in a sworn statement filed with the court on Friday, a copy of which PFT has obtained.

Smith also takes advantage of the opportunity to fire another shot at the league’s overall process.

“I stressed to Mr. Goodell that it was important for the accused players and the NFLPA to have access to the League’s information, and that the information be presented so that the accused players could respond before any punishment was imposed,” Smith said. “Finally, I emphasized that transparency was important, so that if there were clear evidence of a pay-to-injure program, the NFLPA could work with the NFL to stop such behavior and ensure it never happens again. The cooperation and transparency that I requested, and that I firmly believed was in the best interest of all parties, was not provided and to date, it has never been provided.”

Taking it all one level higher, Browns linebacker Scott Fujita executed an affidavit in which he directly disputes the claim that Goodell was ready to discipline the players as of March 21. Fujita testifies that he called Goodell on “approximately” March 20, because Fujita was “disturbed that my name had been leaked in media reports concerning the NFL’s investigation.” Fujita then testifies that, during the call, “Goodell told me he would be coming down hard with punishments on the Saints coaches, but that with respect to Saints players, he was not quite sure what he had on them, and that player punishments therefore would take some time.”

In other words, the NFLPA believes that Goodell’s sworn statement was unintentionally inaccurate, at best."

Smith, Fujita dispute Goodell’s sworn statement on March 21 issue | ProFootballTalk



In the NFL's submission to the judge yesterday, Goodell states that AFTER he sent the letter on 3/14 to the NFLPA to deny the request to delay the punishments... he and Smith talked on the phone a few days later to agree to delay the punishments.

Smith is essentially denying that this supposed "phone call" happened. I knew that would happend......

spkb25

Right, but you do realize this has everything in the world to do with two of our players missing games, right? That one of them is for the entire year, right?

Okay, just making sure. You don't have to read those stories. I don't read every story on here. Read the stories that interest you.

burningmetal

Hmm... Well now it at least makes some sense to me. It just seems like the focus has shifted more toward this matter than the original reason of the lawsuit. I can see now how this might help the players, but I am also curious as to what the judge thinks of the so-called evidence provided by the NFL about the bounties, and not just some letter asking for a delay.

Utah_Saint

If I remember correctly, she said the evidence is "borderline ridiculous".

homerj07

Goodall is simply an ass hat

saintfan

This is what Roger is banking on, or at least WAS banking on. I absolutely believe he thought he could hammer the Saints, that there would be an outcry of injustice, and that people would eventually just move past it once Football started - that we would be distracted. With this as his plan, he figured he could lower the boom on us, attempting to show the world that the NFL truly cares about player safety, and ultimately suffer no consequences because we'd be pacified with the game soon enough.

It hasn't worked out that way, and I'm proud of everyone who chose not to give in. This, in my humble opinion, is a serious (and I do mean serious) injustice, and violation of his required fairness, and a deplorable violation of his office. It is an abuse of power if there was ever such a thing. He has leveraged the office he holds against the people he is supposed to oversee in a fair and impartial way, and his motivation is money. Period.

Thankfully, Vilma saw this from the beginning and has chosen to stick his neck out to expose Roger and his agenda, and so far so good. A man simply cannot be allowed to behave as Roger has...not in America. A man cannot be allowed to get it SO WRONG, on PURPOSE, and destroy another man's career and reputation.

No. I say keep the bounty stories coming. Attack Roger from every conceivable angle until justice is done. Vilma, and for that matter every other player in the league, because they are equally at risk, should fight Roger all the way to a strike if necessary, and us fans should be willing to tolerate it in the interest of removing Roger from power. Some things are just right or wrong. This is wrong. It's WAY wrong, and I'm not willing to watch Roger destroy another man because he wants to influence the public and a jury.

Nope. Roger can go to hell. Whatever it takes. As long as it takes. Collateral damage be damned unfortunately, even if that were to mean missing out on some football for a while.

C'mon Man...

burningmetal

Well I hope she said that. Because she would be quite right.

NOLA54

Goodell is an ass wipe!

jeanpierre

What's really a headscratcher is this...

By stating that he was ready to hand down the hammer in March and obliged D Smith to wait till later, he still stating he had his mind made up; one of contentions of the Vilma Camp is that because his mind was made up then, he could not act impartially should Mr. Vilma and his counsel raise valid scrutiny of the evidence presented to Jon Vilma at his kangaroo Court...

saintfan

Academics frequently miss the obvious.