The Bounty Hunters

by Brandon on Nov 20, 2007 12:24 AM CST in Green Bay Packers News

The NFL is investigating whether the Packers placed bounties on any opposing players. GM Ted Thompson was pretty quick to pounce and take responsibility for any bounties that might have been placed. The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL and maybe if there were more veterans who might have known better on the team something like this might have not happened. Tom Pelissero believes this might not be a big deal but the NFL took a pretty dim view of New England videotaping the Jets sidelines and took away a 1st round pick from them, so right now I would guess that a penalty might be slapped on the team (not necessarily a 1st round pick, but not a slap on the wrist either). I can't remember anything like this happening anytime recently in the NFL, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was a big issue at one time in the NFL. Does anyone specifically remembering something like this before?

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Bounty - The Quicker Picker Upper

I think in the late '80s, Jimmy Johnson (Cowboys) accused Buddy Ryan (Eagles) of paying his players to take out certain Cowboys. And we all remember the Charles Martin thing - which was supposedly in retaliation for Jim McMahon doing the same thing the year before, who knows.

But that's what's weird about this - I don't know why the NFL is making such a big deal about paying bonuses for doing legal things. It's one thing to say "I'll pay you $500 to break Aikman's thumb", that's illegal. But "You get a $500 bonus if you hold the running back to under 100 yards," isn't that an incentive clause? Baseball contracts have those all the time, are they illegal in the NFL? Is the problem that they aren't in the contract and are therefore viewed as a way of paying players under the table?

OK, if you want to make this a bookkeeping thing and say we're violating the salary cap, that's one thing, but all this talk of bounties is overblown.

by butch on Nov 20, 2007 7:36 AM CST reply actions

Team or Player

I definitely agree with what you are saying here. It looks like it's the players offering money to other players, so it shouldn't even be a salary cap thing. The article says that it is prohibited, but I don't really understand why. Some people get more motivated if there is a monetary incentive and, as long as you're not paying them to take someone out, I don't see the problem.

by brafi on Nov 20, 2007 9:43 AM CST up reply actions