🏈 NFL's priciest punishments: Deflategate's $1M fine tops Spygate
Spygate cost $750K and a first-round pick. Bountygate's suspensions, including Jonathan Vilma's full-season ban, were erased on appeal. 📌
By MrMuscles, sports desk · Desk editor Gustavs Ērkšķis-Kreicbergs · · 2 min read
RANKEDPhoto: Chris K · Pexels LicenseWhat we know
- The NFL fined Bill Belichick $500,000 - the league's maximum for a coach - and the Patriots $250,000, then stripped the 2008 first-round pick, for Spygate.
- The NFL fined the Patriots $1 million and took their 2016 first-round and 2017 fourth-round picks over Deflategate, while suspending Tom Brady four games.
- For Spygate, the league collected the Patriots' tapes and notes and destroyed them on Goodell's orders within days of the penalties.
- For Bountygate, Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, Gregg Williams indefinitely, general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt for six.
- Every Bountygate player suspension, including Jonathan Vilma's full-season ban, was vacated on appeal by former commissioner Paul Tagliabue in December 2012.
The ledger of fines
| Scandal | Who was fined | Amount | Draft picks lost | Suspensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deflategate (2015) | New England Patriots / Tom Brady | $1,000,000 team fine | 2016 first-round pick; 2017 fourth-round pick | Brady: 4 games |
| Spygate (2007) | Bill Belichick / New England Patriots | $500,000 (Belichick) + $250,000 (team) = $750,000 | 2008 first-round pick | None - Goodell considered suspending Belichick and chose the pick instead |
| Bountygate (2012) | New Orleans Saints | - | - | Payton: full 2012 season; Williams: indefinite; Loomis: 8 games; Vitt: 6 games; 4 players suspended (incl. Vilma, full season), all later vacated |
On raw dollars, Deflategate is the most expensive of the three: the NFL fined the Patriots $1 million and took two draft picks over footballs the league concluded were deliberately deflated in the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015, while suspending Tom Brady four games. Brady won a federal court reversal, lost it on appeal to the Second Circuit, and served the suspension at the start of the 2016 season.
Spygate cost less in cash - $500,000 from Belichick, the maximum the league could levy on a coach, plus $250,000 from the Patriots - but it's the only one of the three where the league destroyed its own evidence: commissioner Roger Goodell ordered the confiscated tapes and notes destroyed days after collecting them. The Patriots lost their 2008 first-round pick, the first time the league had ever stripped a team of a first-round selection.
Bountygate's heaviest damage was counted in seasons, not dollars, and it fell on the staff. Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight games, assistant coach Joe Vitt for six, and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. Four players were suspended that May, with linebacker Jonathan Vilma handed a full season - though every one of those player suspensions was later vacated.
"I never paid, or intended to pay, $10,000, or any amount of money, to any player for knocking Kurt Warner, Brett Favre or any other player, out of the 2009 divisional playoff game, 2010 NFC Championship Game, or any other game."
Jonathan Vilma, denying the bounty allegations in a May 2012 statement
Three scandals, three different currencies of punishment - cash for the Patriots twice, careers for the Saints' coaching staff once. Only Bountygate's sanctions were substantially undone: Paul Tagliabue, appointed by Goodell to hear the appeals, found three of the four players had engaged in conduct detrimental to the league but stressed the coaches were "very much involved" and the case "contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints' organization," and vacated every player's suspension.
The Ledger
On the record
- Fines on record: Deflategate, $1,000,000 (Patriots); Spygate, $750,000 combined (Belichick $500,000 plus the Patriots $250,000).
- Draft picks lost: Spygate, a 2008 first-rounder; Deflategate, a 2016 first-rounder and a 2017 fourth-rounder.
- Suspensions: Bountygate carried the most - Payton missed all of 2012, Williams suspended indefinitely, Loomis eight games, Vitt six games; Deflategate suspended Brady four games; Spygate carried none.
- All four Bountygate player suspensions were vacated by Paul Tagliabue in December 2012, so those players ultimately lost no games.
Still rumour
- The full scope of the Patriots' pre-2007 taping was never established; the tapes and notes the league seized were destroyed before any thorough outside review.
That's the record. The rest is rumour. - MrMuscles
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