Saints Bountygate: Greg WIlliams and Sean Payton Could be Fired

Injuries will always be a part of football. There's no way around it.

When you have some of the strongest athletes in the world hitting each other while running at full speed, people are going to get hurt.

But players trying to intentionally injure others is a whole other matter.

The NFL has done a good job over the past few seasons, trying to limit injuries and punishing players for dirty hits.

The point of penalizing and fining players for dirty hits is to discourage them from hurting opponents.

Greg Williams undermined what the NFL has been trying to do with his Bounty Program that he implemented as defensive coordinator of the Saints from 2009 through 2011.

Williams reportedly ran a Pay for Performance program with the defensive players on the Saints. Players contributed money into a pool, and were paid based upon reaching certain goals.

Players received money for things such as interceptions and fumble recoveries.

But these goals also included injuring players on the opposing team.

Members of the Saints were paid money for knockouts and cart-offs.

A hit was considered a knockout if a player was unable to return to the game. A cart-off was registered if a player had to be carted off the field.

Reports say the pool may have contained more than $50,000 at its peak.

A cart-off netted a player $1,000 and a knockout was worth $1,500. The payments were doubled or tripled during the playoffs.

Now reports say Williams has been called to meet with NFL security officials about the allegations.

The NFL will want to show that they are serious about keeping players safe. As a result, there's a chance Williams could lose his job.

Williams recently took over as the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams.

Saints head coach Sean Payton could also be hit with a heavy suspension, at the very least.

By putting this incentive-laden system in place, Williams was spitting in the face of the NFL's policy on player safety.

He didn't just ignore what the NFL has been trying to do; Williams purposely tried to get his players to violate the league's policy.

Since taking over as NFL commissioner in 2006, Roger Goodell has made his name by being a disciplinarian.

He first made his mark by suspending multiple players for issues off the field. Over the past few seasons, he has come down hard on players who have doled out illegal hits.

Now, the commissioner may start suspending coaches for violating his rules.

Williams ran the bounty system, but Sean Payton is unlikely to come out unscathed in this process. The head coach most likely knew what was going on, and will be punished accordingly.

Even with his emphasis on player safety, Goodell has been trying to push for an 18-game schedule. If he wants to justify forcing players to play 2 more regular season games every year, he has to convince the union that it won't jeopardize their safety.

It's still unknown the extent of the punishments that will be levied. Williams and Payton will almost definitely be punished. The NFL may even take away draft picks from New Orleans, just as they did to New England after Spygate.

One thing is for certain-Goodell will come down hard on anyone associated with this latest scandal.