News is coming through that the suspensions handed down by Roger Goodell for ‘BountyGate’ have been overturned.
Jonathan Vilma seems to have broke the news himself on his twitter account, by saying:
[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/JonVilma51/status/244155959625269248"]
Vilma, Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita will be eligible to play week 1. The suspensions of the New Orleans Saints coaches Sean Payton and Joe Vitt as well as GM Mickey Loomis will remain, only the players aren’t suspended.
This news doesn’t come as shocking, considering it didn’t seem like Goodell was providing enough information for the courts to uphold his sentencing. Most felt that Goodell’s sentencing was too harsh for the players and now vindication is theirs.
The NFL decided to file court documents on Friday, showing that Vilma initially agreed to a new bounty hearing with Goodell last month. That was until Vilma’s lawyers and players union talked him out of it.
While this news hasn’t been confirmed by the NFL just yet, I’m pretty sure Vilma wouldn’t tweet that out unless a ruling had been made in his favor.
The NFL decided to release a statement in regards to the suspension being overturned: “Consistent with the panel’s decision, Commissioner Goodell will, as directed, make an expedited determination of the discipline imposed for violating the league’s pay-for-performance/bounty rule. Until that determination is made the four players are reinstated and eligible to play starting this weekend.”
That is the leagues way of saying, that this isn’t over yet. They aren’t done fighting this battle, but now going back to the drawing board.
