Much has been written about the New Orleans Saints and BountyGate. While nobody asked my opinion, I’m going to offer it. I’m here to help, free of charge!
I’m listing a checklist of items that will put the New Orleans Saints organization back together. Once they hire me to implement the changes, I’ll be sure to report back to you the progress made.
1.) They must admit their wrongdoing.
We, as a society, are a forgiving people, especially in sports. When Andy Pettitte freely stated that he participated in taking steroids and said he was sorry, people forgave him. When Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds continuously stated that they did nothing wrong, people hated them. Sometimes all we need is an apology so that we can move on. We’ve heard from the coaches, but we really haven’t heard much from the players, other than Anthony Hargrove. There isn’t anything wrong with saying that “they got caught up in the moment either (if that’s what it was). Apologize and move on.

2.) Initiate a League-wide proposal that will fix the real problem.
Now that they have admitted to this being a problem and claim to want to move forward, let’s do it. However, it cannot be lip service. I don’t think anyone is naďve enough to think that New Orleans is the only team that does this. It’s a league-wide problem. So I ask New Orleans to “get involved”. They can:
- Get involved with the concussion studies, make donations, and really see the affects of trying to “hurt people”. The players will become these people.
- Speak to fans and other teams about it. They need to own this, even if they weren’t the first (and probably not the last) to do this. OWN IT!

3.) Do not allow the fall guys to come back.
As much as this may hurt and many will disagree, you cannot allow some of the key staff to come back. This may be seen as a contradiction to item #1. However, as an organization, you accept the apology, but you move forward with the staff members. In the back of your mind, you’ll always wonder if the bounty is still in place. You cannot allow this to happen.

4.) Sign Key free agents
They may think everything is right with the fans, but the events that have occurred play a big role in the long term success of the New Orleans Saints. They’ve lost their coach for 1 year. They’ve lost their Defensive Coordinator indefinitely. The GM will be out for awhile and key players will miss time. The draft helped their cause, as they drafted some players to pick up the slack. But the truth of the matter is that the losses are key losses. Many free agents won’t go to a place where they can’t win. New Orleans, having won a Super Bowl already, is close to another. Having lost draft picks and key players, they aren’t as close as they were. Why go there if they don’t have the possibility to win today. With the losses, the Saints won’t win in 2012. They need to not only sign talent, but quality talent. Quality talent, I’ll define as talent where the players are upstanding citizens who understand all aspects of the game. In some cases, the Saints may have to overpay to get these players, otherwise, the hits that they’re taking may eliminate the small window of opportunity that exists for the Saints.

5.) Re-Sign Drew Brees!
This may be the most important one, as previously mentioned, the window for winning is small. Lose Drew Brees and the organization starts over. You cannot allow this to happen. Allow him to walk and what happens to the fan base? It will be the ‘Aints all over again. Enough said.

6.) Secondary Fixes include taking issue with the NFL
We talk about the players safety, but is the NFL truly about players safety? Anthony Hargrove did the right thing with the promise that he would remain anonymous. However, it was leaked that he provided testimony against his coaches. How could this have happened? Leaking his name puts the player in jeopardy and it doesn’t fully allow him to earn his potential if teams view him as a malcontent or someone who isn’t loyal. It hurts his earning potential. He’s on a new team and now he’ll miss games. That doesn’t really help his team or how he is viewed with fans. If the league is truly about players, then they must be all in. This isn’t the first time the league has leaked something to hurt a player, as the NFL most recently leaked the Wonderlic scores of Morris Clairborne.
There you go fans…the 6-step process to fixing the New Orleans Saints! Now where’s my check?
Your comments are welcome!
Goodell: [IMG]http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww307/dzq8wx/Goodell.jpg[/IMG]
Brees: [IMG]http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww307/dzq8wx/drew-brees1.jpg[/IMG]
Hargrove: [IMG]http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww307/dzq8wx/anthony-hargrove.jpg[/IMG]