Vitt: Williams promised to reward players for injuring opposing coaches

Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt has been outspoken on the bounty scandal. (US Presswire)

NEW ORLEANS -- The bounty scandal wrecked the Saints' season. After averaging 12 wins a season from 2009-11, New Orleans stumbled to 7-9 in 2012. Coach Sean Payton was suspended for the year, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, and assistant head coach Joe Vitt missed six games before returning to a team that was 2-4.

Vitt has been outspoken about bountygate from the beginning, including and up to his December testimony before an appeals hearing headed by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The Times-Picayune obtained a copy of that testimony, and in it Vitt was blunt about Williams' role in the scandal.

Via the Picayune's Mike Triplett, Vitt alleged that Williams once promised to reward players if they knocked down or took out assistant coaches on the other team on plays near the sideline.

Vitt told Tagliabue that he made sure players understood that such behavior was unacceptable and added that everyone understood that Williams' "schtick" and "false bravado" were such exaggerations of reality that players rarely took him seriously.

"If our players went out and performed what came out of Gregg Williams' mouth, and it went from his lips to their ears, and then it went to the performance, we would have people in jail right now, ma'am," Vitt told NFL attorney Mary Jo White at the time. "We would have people in jail right now."

Williams, meanwhile, is looking to get back into the NFL, and there have been reports in recent days that the Titans are considering hiring him.

So why would Tennessee want to get involved with a coach who has so much baggage? For the same reasons teams take fliers on high-risk, high-reward players. Just look at the Saints' 2012 defense for proof.

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