Peter King says Williams’ statement harmful to Saints’ players’ cause
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King joined the show after spending yesterday at the NFL office seeing the League’s evidence that there were bounties.
“The one thing that struck me was the complicity of Gregg Williams,” King said. “I think that was particularly harmful.”
King said that he walked away thinking he saw a lot of evidence on “pay-for-performance,” but not as much on bounties to hurt players. But he was clear, there was some evidence that there was a reward for knocking guys out of a game. “According to the Gregg WIlliams system, if you knocked a guy out of a game, you were paid out of this ‘kitty.'”
King, however, thinks that Roger Goodell may have gone too far with the punishment. “I think the punishment is excessive,” King said. He thinks they shouldn’t hit them that hard for lying. King also thinks one year was too long for head coach Sean Payton.
King said he doesn’t expect the suspensions to be lessened because if he did, that would mean he was wrong in the first place. That’s because there’s been no new evidence for the players to present to get the suspension reduced.