Brett Favre reflects on Saints’ bounty scandal that aimed to reward players who inured him

NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre was once a target of a bounty hunting scheme by the New Orleans Saints and opened up 15 years later about that experience in a thread on X Friday.

In 2009, the Saints offered their players cash incentives to injure certain players. Favre, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings at that time, was on that list. 

The Vikings were considered the top obstacle in the NFC for the Saints to reach the Super Bowl that year. 

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The Saints beat Favre and the Vikings in the NFC championship game that year, a 31-28 overtime thriller. Favre was never injured, but he took multiple hard hits and ended up throwing a costly interception in overtime. 

Favre said he held no “ill will” toward the Saints for the scandal and wished he played better in the game. 

“I played the game with the mindset to be prepared for anything: big hits, injuries, and players trying to knock my head off. I never made excuses for the times I wasn’t successful and played the game within the ruleset. In fact, losing just made me want to work harder and fueled my drive to win next time,” Favre wrote. 

“I don’t have any ill-will towards those involved in Bounty Gate. After we lost to the Saints, I rooted for Drew Brees and Sean Payton to win the Super Bowl. Looking back 15 years later, my opinion hasn’t changed. If I could have some of those plays back and done my part, maybe we would have been the ones celebrating a championship victory in 2010.” 

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The Saints won the Super Bowl that year against the Indianapolis Colts. 

But once the scandal was uncovered, the Saints received some of the harshest sanctions in NFL history. Former head coach Sean Payton was suspended a year without pay. 

Defensive coordinator Greg Williams, identified as the brains of the plan, was suspended indefinitely but was later reinstated. Former general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season, and assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games of that year. 

Former Saints players Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma were all suspended for their roles. 

The Saints also had to pay a $500,000 fine and forfeit their second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 drafts

The team’s bounty hunting plan involved as many as 27 players and at least one assistant coach, the league found in its investigation. Players even contributed to a cash pool. 

The players were paid $1,500 for a “knockout,” when a targeted player couldn’t return to the game, and $1,000 for a “cart-off,” when a player had to be carried off the field.

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