NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell re-issued a wave of suspensions Tuesday for the four players punished in connection to the New Orleans Saints "bounty" scandal.

We're five weeks into the NFL season and these four players -- Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita and free-agent defensive end Anthony Hargrove -- are back in a universe they briefly escaped. The same goes for us all.
We knew the league would weigh, we didn't know when. Goodell's ruling was nuanced. He reduced punishments for Fujita (from three games to one) and Hargrove (from eight games to seven, with five already credited to his account).

The Commissioner maintained Smith's four-game ban -- which kicks in immediately barring an appeal -- and his view on Vilma was unchanged. The linebacker's season-long suspension is back on the table.

And so is the pay-for-performance narrative that haunted the offseason. The NFL Players Association wi ... Read more »