What was Bountygate? What did Sean Payton do during his suspension year?
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Sean Payton
According to recent reports, Sean Payton, former head coach of the New Orleans Saints was heavily pursued by the Miami Dolphins. Payton was offered a five-year deal worth $100 million to coach the team.
Payton stepped down as the head coach of the Saints after the 2021 season. His 16 years with the Saints have been nothing short of extraordinary. He led the Saints to their first-ever Super Bowl in 2009 along with three NFC Championship games, and nine playoff nods with seven division titles thus making him the most successful coach in Saints history.
What was Bountygate?
However, his career had a little hiccup along the way. Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season for his involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. On March 2, 2012, after a thorough investigation, the NFL concluded that the Saints had set up a bounty program wherein players were rewarded for “deliberately attempting to knock opposing players out of games.”
The funds of his program were handled by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Sean Payton was also found guilty of being a part of this scandal. He orchestrated a cover-up when the league first started its investigation in the 2009-10 offseason. The investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence against the staff. However, in 2011 the NFL reopened the investigation and informed team owner Tom Benson that they had concrete evidence against the people behind the bounty scandal.
So, on 22nd March 2012, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season, effective April 1. Payton filed an appeal for his suspension on 30 March 2012. The Commissioner held an expedited gearing and ruled the decision in days and not weeks. Goodell turned the appeal down on April 9 and Payton’s suspension was set to begin on April 16. Payton had to forfeit $7.8 million of his $8.1 million salary and was also banned from any form of contact with anyone associated with the NFL. The Saints organization was fined $500,000 and was forced to give up their second-round picks in 2012 and 2013.
Thus, Payton became the first head coach in modern NFL history to be suspended. Payton’s contract was extended through 2015 and Roger Goodell reinstated Payton on January 22, 2013.
Who tipped the NFL about the Saints’ bounty program?
ESPN reported in 2012 that former New Orleans Saints defensive assistant Mike Cerullo was the one who tipped the NFL to the bounty program. Cerullo was released by the Saints in 2009 due to poor performance. He testified that he kept a leader containing players and money transferred. Cerullo confirmed that he was in fact “angry for being let go from the Saints” which led him to come forward. The NFL hired Cerullo to serve as the Director of Football Administration in 2017. He is currently the director of football operations at Princeton University.
What did Sean Payton do during his suspension year?
During his one-year suspension from the NFL, Sean Payton was the offensive coordinator for his son Connor’s sixth-grade team in Argyle, Texas. He used a simplified Saint’s playbook and the team remained unbeaten but lost near the end of the regular season. The film “Home Team” is based on Sean Payton during his suspension year and him coaching his son’s football team. Kevin James plays the Saints’ head coach along with Taylor Lautner, Jackie Sandler, and others.
After his return, Payton managed to keep the Saints in the top 3 in their division. Winning four consecutive division titles from 2017-2020. Finally, after 16 years as the head coach, Sean Payton decided to retire. After his retirement, Payton joined FOX to become a part of their NFL Sunday panel as a stand-in for Jimmy Johnson’s days off. Going through incredibly tough times during his coaching career, Payton emerged to be one of the best head coaches in NFL history.
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Yash Karandekar
(1023 Articles Published)