Will the NFL (Goodell) use the Gregg Williams era as leverage to convince the Redskins not to sue over the salary cap deductions?

[aqq]

Now that we know there was a bounty to injure brad johnson in 2006 I think this is a valid question. If the Redskins move forward and win any legal action regarding the deduction of cap space for 2012-2013 maybe Goodell says ok then i will take away a 2nd rd pick for the use of bounties.

[tibbidoe]

Not unless it's already agreed upon. They (NFL) released a statement that "there was no bounty in Washington".

Odd, since several players have already said there was. Maybe since any coach and most players are now gone from the Gibbs/Williams roster, they can't do anything?

[robotfire]

Here's my question: Who can you hold accountable for that? There isn't a single coach on this team that was involved in that scandal. In New Orleans, it all happened recently. The head coach and GM were in on it! I am scared that Goodell will do something stupid, though, because he's out of control and crazy.

[aqq]

Even though most players and coaches are gone I imagine the Washington Redskins organization can still be punished (ie. draft picks)

[sempre_victrix]

This whole bounty for injury thing disgusts me. A little money for LEGAL hard hits, forced turnovers, exceptional plays is one thing and I love hard hitting football, but purposely injuring another player because your team is too ****ty to beat them on the field is pretty cowardly.

[skinsfan1523]

The saints were warned but kept on doing it. It's a different situation between us and the saints.

[SkinsFTW]

Also if you can go back almost a decade then why not go back and investigate the 1930's?

[BLEED-B&G]

Sometimes we are too extremeskins

[2cents]

And honestly.....how do we know its true. Unnamed sources and unnamed former players, some of whom may have had an axe to grind, do not consittute proof.

[Boston Skins]

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't put it past him at this point.

[chow184]

I think the NFL realizes it would be blatantly unfair to penalize the redskins as the coaching staff and players are almost entirely different than when williams was here.

this FO has nothing to do with bounties

this coaching staff has nothing to do with bounties

this group of players has nothing to do with bounties

as a franchise could they punish snyder? maybe but even then that's grasping at tiny tiny straws

[tibbidoe]

And honestly.....how do we know its true. Unnamed sources and unnamed former players, some of whom may have had an axe to grind, do not consittute proof.

Phillip Daniels was one of the "unnamed former players". As was Matt Bowen.

[Braxford]

I don't know if Goodell can do that but I think ultimately he will at least TRY to do whatever Mara tells him. I wish I could be up at Radio City Music Hall to boo Goodell before introduces any pick.

[ejay183]

This isnt good http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d827d2637/article/williams-reportedly-offered-15k-to-knock-out-brad-johnson?module=HP11_headline_stack

[Unforgiven]

If Goodell had the goods on the Redskins to bring down a penalty for a bounty system and held it back to use against them in another way and it got out, he would be massacred. You already have the Senate kind of nosing around the issue, Goodell has to come out of it looking clean.

[Diss]

As mentioned above, the big difference here is that the Redskins were never warned by the league numerous times to stop whatever "bounty" program they had going on. That's the main thing here that keeps getting overlooked, and THAT is what caused the hammer to fall on the Saints: they were warned numerous times to stop by the league, and they ignored those warnings and/or lied about it.

They're not going to retroactively punish the Redskins because the same cannot be said about the situation here.

All that said, Williams' bounty systems sure never seemed to produce results for us. I remember the Vikings winning that damn game in 2006. I was there. He probably should've put a bounty on Saunders' giant playbook instead.

[skinsince72]

I was worried about this also. And i was thinking that the Skins would not push the issue until after the draft just to be sure the dictator doesn't go all rogue. But screw that. That's just tucking your tail and playing nice. I hope Jerry and Dan walk into that meeting next week and point out to all the other owners that, in addition to having one hand out asking for money (revenue sharing), they have one hand on the hilt of a knife they just stuck in our back.

[Peregrine]

If Goodell had the goods on the Redskins to bring down a penalty for a bounty system and held it back to use against them in another way and it got out, he would be massacred. You already have the Senate kind of nosing around the issue, Goodell has to come out of it looking clean.

Very true. Goodell's only hope in all of this is to appear as though he is doing it "for the good of the players". If he holds back on a penalty for a bounty, until the Redskins fight the cap penalty, it clearly reveals his only agenda is his own power. That would just set the players off.

[Monkart]

Goodell suspends Joe Gibbs one year from Nascar!

[zoony]

It never ****ing ends

[bowhunter]

I envision him striking all references to our 2006 Lombardi Trophy. Goodell has mind control capabilities

[TheCoach22]

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/id/7729622/report-dallas-cowboys-washington-redskins-fight-salary-cap-penalties

Thought this was interesting. JJ says the Cowboys and Redskins plan to fight the cap penalties. We absolutely should.

[Dirt]

I'm just waiting on the "Redskins fire back" thread. I'm still mad.

[VRIEL1]

Well at this point it's almost moot. The NFL got what it wanted, which was to eliminate the possibility of the Skins picking up all the really good players an no one else being able to get any. So now if DS decides to make a stink then Goodell can always give the money back now so we can use it to sign Fletcher and any FA's cut on June 1st.

Personally I'd wait. Get RG3 in the draft and after the draft then file a suit against the other owners for collusion. What are they going to do then? They can't take our draft picks and they can't take RG3 away from us so what would they be left with? Either facing a law suit or giving our money back. They will have done what they wanted so giving back the money would be no big deal at that point. That would also keep an ugly law suit from rearing it's ugly head making the league look bad for approving the deals then later punishing for something they approved and making a very legal issue about their collusion.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Very true. Goodell's only hope in all of this is to appear as though he is doing it "for the good of the players". If he holds back on a penalty for a bounty, until the Redskins fight the cap penalty, it clearly reveals his only agenda is his own power. That would just set the players off.

And the player are already pissed off about punishing the Cowboys and Redskins, along with the collusion to keep player salaries down when there was no cap.

The NFL isn't gonna do anything to the Redskins unless it can be shown that the league knew about Williams back then and told the Skins to knock it off, and Snyder, Gibbs and Vinny made sure a Bounty scheme was still active afterwards anyway. None of that happened. So the Skins aren't in danger of any repercussions. Gregg Williams is, though.