NFL Suspends Saints Players; Vilma Out For Year

The NFL has finally handed down player penalties for those involved in the Bountygate scandal.

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has been suspended for the entire season. Anthony Hargrove will be forced to sit for half the season. Saints defensive end Will Smith with serve a four-game suspension and Scott Fujita will be suspended for three games.

Albert Breer tweets the news:

NFL announces Jonathan Vilma has been suspended for the 2012 season. Hargrove gets 8 games. Will Smith 4 games. Fujita 3 games.

We will have the full transcript from Goodell when it becomes available but here is part of what the NFL had to say, per Daniel Kaplan:

"The investigation concluded that while captain of the [defense] Vilma assisted Coach Williams in establishing and funding the program. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash - to any player who knocked Arizona QB Kurt Warner out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota QB Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game the following week (played on January 24, 2010)."

I've got to admit that while the Vilma suspension absolutely sucks and is pretty damn harsh, I'm happy with the fact that only a handful of players have been given suspensions, and only two players currently on the Saints roster.

What do you think? How are you guys feeling right now?