December 11th, 2012 
Matt Loede 
Posted in 
It took some time, but Saints players are off the hook today – thanks in part to former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Tags today overturned the suspensions of four current and former Saints players in the league’s bounty investigation of the club.
Tagliabue did state that he found that the players’ conduct was detrimental to the league. He says they participated in a performance pool that rewarded key plays — including hard tackles — that could justify fines.
But the former commissioner said Tuesday that “this entire case has been contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints’ organization.”
Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma initially had been suspended the whole season, while Saints defensive end Will Smith, Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita and free agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove received shorter suspensions.
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