Agent says Saints bounty probe pure semantics
Former Saints defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, now with the Green Bay Packers, is suspended for eight games this season, for participating in a pay-for-pain bounty system.
NEW ORLEANS — The agent for suspended defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove says the NFL has used semantics, but not hard evidence, as the basis for punishing current and former Saints players in its bounty investigation.
In a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Sunday, on the eve of sanctioned players’ appeal hearing, agent Phil Williams asked dozens of questions of the NFL, including whether league investigators made Hargrove a central figure in the bounty probe because his past drug suspensions made him an “easy target.”
Williams also asked why the NFL released evidence strategically rather than sharing as much information as possible in a matter that has harmed players’ reputations, and why the league made examples out of a select few players when many players around the league have taken part in performance pools.
“If these men have committed such grievous crimes that you have determined that their careers should be in danger and ... their names sullied, why be so secretive about the ‘evidence’ that you use to condemn them?” Williams’ statement said. “Do you actually have any concrete evidence that any player from another team was injured as a result of a “bounty” and that a player from the Saints was therefore paid accordingly? ... Is it possible that the overwhelming majority of this pressing dilemma is about semantics?”
Hargrove, now with Green Bay, has been suspended eight games. Saints linebacker and defensive captain Jonathan Vilma was suspended the whole season, while Saints defensive end Will Smith was suspended four games and former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, now with Cleveland, was suspended three games.
All four players have appeal hearings scheduled before NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement by Hargrove’s agent.
Chargers
TOMLINSON TO RETIRE AFTER 11 SEASONS: In San Diego, LaDainian Tomlinson will retire from the NFL as a member of the San Diego Chargers.
The Chargers said Sunday that Tomlinson — who was the NFL MVP in 2006 with San Diego and is the fifth-leading rusher in league history — will re-sign with the team Monday, then announce his retirement.
Tomlinson was drafted in the first round by San Diego in 2001 and spent the first nine years of his career with the Chargers. He played the last two seasons with the Jets.
Tomlinson had said recently that he might continue his career if the right opportunity was available. Some fans hoped the Chargers would bring back Tomlinson as a third-down back, but that appeared impossible as long as general manager A.J. Smith is in control.
Tomlinson finishes his career with 13,684 yards and 145 touchdowns.
Tomlinson won the MVP in ’06, when he set league single-season records with 31 touchdowns, including 28 rushing, and 186 points. He ran for a career-high 1,815 yards that year, giving him the first of two straight rushing titles.
He ran for 914 yards in 2010 with the Jets, but carried only 75 times for 280 yards last season, playing mostly on passing downs.