The New Orleans Saints was caught in the act of bounty scandal which was against the rule of the NFL.
The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal was an incident in which members of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League(NFL) were accused of paying out bonuses, or “bounties,” for injuring players on opposing teams.
The pool was said to have been in business from 2009 (the year in which the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV) to 2011.
The NFL has long frowned upon bounties, or “non-contract bonuses” as it officially calls them; but an underground culture of bounties is alleged to exist, with teams, it is claimed, turning a blind eye to the practice.
The league constitution specifically forbids payment of bonuses based on performances against an individual player or team, as well as bonuses for on-field misconduct.
However, according to some former players, bounty systems of some sort have been around the NFL for decades, with the percentage of players participating speculated to be between 30 and 40 percent.
Attention was drawn to the Saints’ bounty program after it allegedly practice of methodically organizing such a concept at the coaches’ level, with the primary intent to systematically and routinely injure opposing star players.
After the Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the 2009 NFC Championship Game in what has become a heated rivalry, several Vikings players and coaches claimed that the Saints were deliberately trying to hurt Vikings quarterback Brett Favre.
Late in the 2011 season, the NFL received what it called “significant and credible new information” that suggested there was indeed a “bounty” program in place.
League officials, convinced that this information was irrefutable evidence a program was indeed in place, alerted Benson of their findings just before the Saints’ first-round playoff game against the Detroit Lions.
The investigation continued during the 2011–12 playoffs and continued through the 2012 offseason.
After later investigations in the 2012 offseason, the NFL also found evidence that the Saints put bounties on several Seattle Seahawks players during their 2011 wild-card playoffs game.
Specific players targeted included Matt Hasselbeck, Marshawn Lynch, and Mike Williams. It was also revealed that the Saints’ bounty on Favre was worth up to $35,000.
On March 21, 2012, the NFL issued sanctions to Saints coaches and front-office personnel for their roles in the scandal.
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