Fujita, Hargrove and Smith File ‘Reservation of Rights’ With League at LinesMaker

Fujita, Hargrove and Smith File ‘Reservation of Rights’ With League

NEW ORLEANS (NFL/Wyche) – While Saints line­backer Jonathan Vilma filed a let­ter stat­ing his intent to appeal his season-long sus­pen­sion Mon­day, three other play­ers sus­pended in the Saints bounty scan­dal, jointly filed, through the NFLPA, a “reser­va­tion of rights” let­ter to the NFL.

Scott Fujita, Anthony Har­grove and Will Smith, filed notice that they reserve the right to appeal after a griev­ance filed by the NFLPA on their behalf chal­leng­ing com­mis­sioner Roger Goodell’s author­ity regard­ing these sus­pen­sions is heard. The NFLPA states that no appeal should be heard until an arbi­tra­tor or arbi­tra­tors rule on two griev­ances that were filed last week are resolved. Vilma’s lawyer, Peter Gins­berg, also said that pro­to­col also applies to Vilma.

“I look for­ward to the oppor­tu­nity to con­front what evi­dence they claim to have in the appro­pri­ate forum,” Fujita said in a state­ment emailed to The Asso­ci­ated Press. “I have never con­tributed money to any so-called ‘bounty’ pool, and any state­ments to the con­trary are false. To say I’m dis­ap­pointed with the league would be a huge understatement.”

Play­ers had until the end of busi­ness Mon­day to notify the NFL of their intent to appeal their sus­pen­sions. Fujita, a line­backer with the Browns, was sus­pended three games; Smith, a defen­sive end with the Saints, four games, and Har­grove a defen­sive line­man now with Green Bay, eight games. Vilma’s sus­pen­sion was to take effect imme­di­ately but he is allowed to par­tic­i­pate in off­sea­son work­outs at-least until his appeal is heard.

The NFL has not set a timetable as to when Vilma’s appeal will occur. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is review­ing the play­ers’ fil­ings from Mon­day along with the griev­ance fil­ings and will deter­mine the next steps in the process.

The NFL meted out pun­ish­ment against the play­ers for par­tic­i­pat­ing in what it said was a pay-for-performance pro­gram in which play­ers were paid out of a pool they funded to injure oppo­nents from 2009–2010. The league says it has a pre­pon­der­ance of evi­dence to sup­port its dis­ci­pline. The play­ers and the NFLPA said they’ve yet to see any evi­dence link­ing play­ers to the program.

Saints Coach Sean Pay­ton has been sus­pended for the sea­son, assis­tant head coach Joe Vitt for six games, Gen­eral Manger Mickey Loomis for eight and for­mer defen­sive coor­di­na­tor Gregg Williams was sus­pended indef­i­nitely for their roles in the pro­gram. All appealed to Good­ell and did not get their sus­pen­sions reduced. The Saints also were docked two second-round draft picks and fined $ 500,000.

The NFLPA, in its griev­ance, argues that Good­ell does not have the author­ity to judge, rule – and hear appeals — against the play­ers. The NFLPA states that based on nego­ti­a­tions for a new col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing agree­ment, that no play­ers would be pun­ished for actions prior to last sea­son. The league dis­agrees, argu­ing that such an agree­ment was not made and that Good­ell, accord­ing to labor pact agreed upon by the league and its play­ers, has author­ity to rule and hear the appeals for “con­duct detri­men­tal.” The bounty rul­ings fall under the “con­duct detri­men­tal” ele­ment of the CBA, accord­ing to the NFL.

Our sports betting news features unique sports betting articles as well as current sports news compiled from leading wire services. This arti­cle was dis­trib­uted by Syn­di­cated Sports news wire and aggre­ga­tion ser­vice, For more NFL news see: Fujita, Har­grove and Smith file ‘reser­va­tion of rights’ with league.

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