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Yesterday former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was in New York meeting with Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding Bounty Gate. As Williams and people around the NFL await Goodell’s decision, more voices are expressing their opinion on a story that shaken up the league and the New Orleans Saints. Williams and the Saints organization as a whole should be punished. After all, Williams was allegedly the mastermind and the Saints organization seems to have looked the other way while this was going on under their nose.
But one question that remains is whether the players allegedly involved see some discipline as well?
Former NFL offensive lineman Kyle Turley is one of those former players that has voiced his opinion on this topic. Turley was known as a player who showed interesting, erratic, and explosive behavior during his career and he has been outspoken about NFL injuries and post career struggles for retirees and thinks that Saints quarterback Drew Brees deserves some of the blame for this as well. Kyle Turley joined 790 the Ticket in Miami on the Dan LeBatard Show to talk about what his reaction was when he heard about the New Orleans Saints bounty investigation, if this kind of thing happened in his locker room, what he thinks of Chris Kluwe saying people that participated in this kind of thing deserving to be kicked out of the NFL for life, and if he thinks Drew Brees knew about the bounty program.
What his reaction when he heard about the investigation into Bounty Gate:
“My initial thing was why is everybody so surprised? Everybody is acting so shocked. Outside of that, I guess reading into the details a bit more these guys got a little bit more malicious than I have witnessed and been a part of in my playing days. Usually it’s just specified that special teams play and things like that but since I guess they took away the kickoff and all these other things where special teams isn’t really as big of a factor in the game anymore that now I guess it’s being incentivized on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. That stuff has been going on forever. It just surprises me that people are so surprised.”
Whether bounties took place in his locker rooms:
“Well we always had those types of situations where guys would put up money for, it wasn’t necessarily for guys to hurt people and it wasn’t so malicious, it was for incentivized deals. Usually in special teams meetings, guys that didn’t make a lot of money, they’re more of the expendable type of player on the team and maybe only going to be there half the season even so as a guy sitting there as an offensive lineman in these special teams room because I have to stand there and move one foot on field goal protection and that’s their job, and they didn’t make the big bucks like I did, guys didn’t have a problem ponying up for that. Every now and then I guess if certain players got injured enough or got injured to where they were out of the game there maybe would’ve been bonuses or something like that paid to certain individuals, but what it sounds like has gone on here is they’ve gone way over the top and were head hunting with big dollars to try to incentivize other players to do the job that they couldn’t do, whoever is putting up that money.”
What he makes of Chris Kluwe saying players and coaches should be removed from the NFL if they participated in Bounty Gate:
“It’s great listening to punters voices, they sound so fresh and so clean. No man he’s definitely valid in his points there but I don’t agree that the players that have been involved in it or whatever, maybe there is some disciplinary actions that need to be taken against Jonathan Vilma and whoever else has been named as far as guys ponying up the money. I think they will have to face some sort of consequence, suspension or whatnot. The coaches that knew about it they need to face some sort of consequence for whoever did know about it. It says in the things that I’ve read that the NFL was aware of this and told the team I guess from what I read and they didn’t do anything about it. From Mickey Loomis to the head trainer I guess, for me personally, down in New Orleans you have an executive board member sitting form the union and each team has two representatives that are specifically selected and voted on by your team as representatives for them to go and deal with union matters on their behalf. Down there you have Drew Brees so not only does he have a responsibility to his team but he has a responsibility to every player in the National Football League but in this regard health and safety first and foremost.
With all the issues that have gone on this offseason, with this new collective bargaining agreement that took place this offseason, they used a million things to put themselves on the side of the victim here and partnering with the retired players and do this, this, and that to make themselves look really good, like they have done everything they could for the players. To help them, to protect them, and make sure they have the best stuff they have to have a workplace not a free-for-all ridiculous thing that I guess is going on down there that even your executive committee member can’t control. I want to know what he knew as much as I want to know what everybody else on that team knew. That type of stuff does need to be kicked out and I guess when you’re talking about changing the outcome of the game Pete Rose might have some things to say about this. I might’ve been betting on things but I’m not out there with a baseball bat trying to crack a guys’ back before the game Nancy Kerrigan style. This runs deeper for me because it goes to what I’ve been trying to tell everyone out there that the mentality is what needs to change and it’s not changing because it is being perpetuated by DeMaurice Smith, all these guys who aren’t policing these locker rooms, guys like Drew Brees, who are supposed to be doing their job for the players and making sure stuff like this doesn’t happen, that’s the bottom line. Whoever is responsible needs to be dealt with.”
If he thinks Drew Brees knew about the bounties in the Saints locker room:
“Of course. You know everything that goes on in your locker room. It’s not just a secret deal where okay here’s these big incentives for all these bounties. I’m sure it wasn’t just against Brett Favre, I’m sure it was the whole season. That stuff, you’re a family, you’re tight, you’re close, and you share everything and there’s nothing that you really don’t know about people from your locker room. Of course. I’m sure he knew about it. After that big win when you come in that money isn’t just secretly put in your locker, that money is taken out in front of everybody and thrown to you. That’s the mentality that they want. That get rich quick thing is continuing to go on, and the attention to players safety, I don’t know how much more I need to talk about it.”
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