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Larry Holder of the nola.com is reporting that a source said this morning that the NFL on Friday offered a settlement to the players suspended by Roger Goodell for their involvement in the bounty/pay-for-performance scandal in exchange for them signing a "statement full of untruths" to insulate Goodell from blame.
It appears the suspended players in the New Orleans Saints bounty hearings will stand their ground and wait for a decision from former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue early this week as the players rejected a settlement deal from the NFL on Friday, a source said Sunday morning.
The source added possible suspension reductions for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma (season-long suspension) and defensive end Will Smith (four games), along with former Saints defenders Scott Fujita (one) and Anthony Hargrove (seven, with five already served) were contingent on the players agreeing to a statement full of untruths designed to protect current NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his standing in the NFL.
Holy crap, this is quite delightful! (insert gleeful girlish giggle here)
There's nothing yet on the source itself or much more to the story than these main points, but now we can speculate and get roiled up...if you find any other stories or tweets on this, please link to them, pull-quote them, and let's keep the discussion moving along.