The NFL Players Association filed documents in federal court disputing commissioner Roger Goodell’s sworn statement that he was prepared to discipline players for their involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty pool in March, but waited until May as a courtesy to the union.
Attorneys for four players suspended in the bounty investigation have argued the punishment handed down by Goodell should be overturned, in part because the commissioner’s public statements last spring showed he had improperly pre-judged the players’ actions.
The documents filed Friday include sworn declarations by sanctioned linebacker Scott Fujita and union chief DeMaurice Smith. Fujita reiterated comments he made in an interview with the Associated Press in June in which he described a phone conversation he had with Goodell in March.
“During our phone conversation on or about March 20, Mr. Goodell told me that he would be coming down hard with punishments on Saints coaches, but that with respect to Saints players, he was not quite sure what he had on them, and that player punishments would therefore take some time,” Fujita’s declaration said.
U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan had asked for the league and union to file evidence this week related to the NFL’s contention that Goodell delayed ruling on the players only because he was asked to do so by the union while it conducted its own bounty probe.
In a declaration filed Thursday, Goodell stated he agreed in a phone conversation with Smith “to address discipline of the club and non-player employees and then to afford the NFLPA a reasonable opportunity to conduct its own investigation and express its views before I imposed discipline on the players.”
Smith, however, stated in his Friday declaration that while a phone conversation with the commissioner took place, he and Goodell never reached the agreement the commissioner described.
The NFLPA also noted in its filing that as late as April 24, Goodell was quoted in media reports saying he and league investigators “have been continuing our work” investigating player conduct, and “I hope to reach those decisions very soon.”
