Rumor: Mike Cerullo Identified as the New Orleans Saints Bounty Snitch

Published: 11^th Apr 12 1:20 pm

by David LaRose
University of Colorado Blogger

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Rumor: Mike Cerullo Identified as the New Orleans Saints Bounty Snitch

Courtesy- SportsGrid

The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal has take another twist as it is being reported that former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo has been identified as the whistleblower. Author and filmmaker Allan Donnes has named Cerullo as the one who brought the bounty scandal to attention.

Cerullo was a quality control coach until he was let go after the 2010 season. Before that, from 2007 to 2010, he was an offensive line assistant, a special teams assistant and an assistant to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. After he was let go in 2010 he had a hard time finding any other work and, according to Donnes, Cerullo believed that head coach Sean Payton and other Saints officials made an effort to block any other NFL job opportunities for him. He eventually landed with the University of Miami as an assistant and currently works as an aide for the University of Connecticut football program.

Donnes singling out Cerullo as the whistleblower is a big accusation to make and it can permanently damage Cerullo’s reputation if it is true. If this is confirmed at some point, it will end any hope that Cerullo has at coaching in the NFL again. It may even prevent him from coaching at any level in the future. Snitching is one of those unwritten rules that if be broken has consequences and if Cerullo did indeed shed light on the scandal then he may be blackballed forever due to lack of trust.

Fallout from the scandal has resulted in head coach Sean Payton being suspended for the whole 2012 NFL season and Williams being suspended indefinitely for their roles in the bounty scandal.

Donnes has worked with the Saints multiple times over the past few years even authoring a book titled, “Patron Saints: How the Saints Gave New Orleans A Reason To Believe” back in 2007 after the devastation Hurricane Katrina left. Donnes says that he has several sources within the Saints organization and it makes sense since he wrote a book on the team. It’s not easy to get access to an NFL team but Donnes had good access to the Saints while writing his book and seemingly kept in touch with those sources.

Here is Donnes speaking to America’s Radio News Network where he specifically called out Cerullo as the main guy who let the bounty scandal out of the bag