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Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue vacated all penalties levied on four players the league said were involved in a bounty program the New Orleans Saints ran for three years.

Tagliabue, appointed by commissioner Roger Goodell as an independent arbiter, released his ruling Tuesday (see Tagliabue's full statement), more than nine months after the league originally issued its findings from a multi-year investigation.

Current Saints Jonathan Vilma (season-long suspension) and Will Smith (four games), along with former New Orleans player Anthony Hargrove (eight games) will no longer face suspensions or fines. Tagliabue, however, did find that the players did “engage” in conduct detrimental to the league

Additionally, former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita (three games) was completely exonerated of conduct detrimental to the league, Tagliabue finding only that he was involved in a “non-injury” pay-for-performance pool.

The onus, Tagliabue said, is on the coaches who ran the program and covered it up to the league throughout its investigation.

“The present appeals are a small piece of a much larger picture,” Tagliabue said. “Senior Saints’ coaches conceived, encouraged and directed the Program. While it included performance rewards for recovering fumbles, interceptions and the like, it also came to include higher cash incentives to “cart-off” or “knockout” an opposing player.”

Making matters difficult for Goodell, Tagliabue said, were that “Saints’ coaches and managers led a deliberate, unprecedented and effective effort to obstruct the NFL’s investigation into the program and the alleged bounty.”

Tagliabue vacates all discipline against players in bounty case |
wwltv.com New Orleans

Well what now.....

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