Penalties issued by the NFL to those involved in the New Orleans Saints bounty program:
Hoping to close the book on bounties, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints defensive captain Jonathan Vilma without pay for all of next season Wednesday and gave shorter bans to three other players for their leading roles in the team's cash-for-hits system that knocked key opponents out of games from 2009-11.
Embattled Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had plenty to discuss before Thursday night's NFL draft, even if his club had no first-round pick.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is still doing interviews regarding player punishments that likely will be handed down for the Saints' pay-for-hits bounty system.
Sean Payton played a round of golf with tour pro Ryan Palmer, posed for photos with his ever-supportive fans and then spoke about his eagerness to get back to coaching football as early as this fall.
While state police and the FBI started a wiretapping probe into the Saints and general manager Mickey Loomis, assistant head coach Joe Vitt called allegations that Loomis' had his Superdome booth wired so he could listen to opposing coaches "ludicrous."
The New Orleans Saints denied an anonymously sourced ESPN report on Monday which alleges that general manager Mickey Loomis' booth in the Superdome was wired so he could listen to opposing coaches' radio communications during games.
The NFL believes the players' union is more intent on protecting the New Orleans Saints involved in the team's bounty scandal than supporting its members who could have been hurt by the pay-for-pain plan.
Drew Brees, the unquestioned leader in the New Orleans Saints' locker room, calls Joe Vitt "the obvious choice" to take over as interim head coach while Sean Payton spends the entire 2012 season serving a suspension for his role in the club's bounty system.
