NFL: Fujita: NFL out to smear him in bounty case

Associated Press
Posted: June 26, 2012

Former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita, a union leader with a record of criticizing the NFL's player-safety record, said he sees elements of a "smear campaign" in a bounty investigation that has sullied his reputation.

Some agree, and question whether Fujita's three-game suspension has something to do with retribution.

"I'm not saying the NFL is intentionally lying," Fujita said. "I've been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they may have just been working with the information they've been given, even though much of that information was inaccurate and lacked credibility."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could rule on the appeals of Fujita and the three other players suspended because of the bounty program as early as Monday.

Saints linebacker Scott Shanle finds it hard to ignore the symmetry of the NFL portraying Fujita as a hypocrite on player-safety matters after Fujita had done the same thing to the league.

"When you look at Scott, who was here for one season [of the three spanned by the bounty probe], for him to get three games, I just felt like there had to be more of a personal issue with that," Shanle said. "When you look at how outspoken he is and a lot of the issues he tries to address, it probably doesn't sit well with the league."

Fujita asked why the NFL linked him to bounties in its public statements, when its disciplinary letter announcing his suspension acknowledges there is no evidence he "pledged money toward a specific bounty" on a particular player.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the NFL stands by its finding that Fujita gave "more than token amounts" of money to a pool that also rewarded injury-producing hits called "cart-offs" and "knockouts."

Fujita now plays for Cleveland.

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