I don't think the issue is entirely that they had a bounty system. 1.) they had a bounty system. 2.) they had a bounty system that was being paid into by people not on the team, that allowed the Saints to, in small part, circumvent the salary cap. 3.) The owner caught wind of it, and told Payton to make it stop. 4.) Payton explicitly ignored warnings from his owner and GM and the league, and told his assistants (per the article) to make sure "our ducks are in a row", when organizing the pay for injury scheme. Had this stopped at number 2, or even THREE, I'd be willing to bet that this would be a 2-3-4 game suspension at most. The BIGGEST issue here is that he was told to stop, and didn't. IMO of course.
Never mind that they started this investigation 3 years ago and the Saints lied and had ample time to stop but continued and got caught.. Enjoy your stupid fucking boycott, the rest of us we'll let you know how the season was..
Iv never had a problem with the Saints, everyone from the organization has been decent in the past and Tom Benson always seems like a decent sort. Hope they do well, as long as it has nothing to do with the Packers chances along the way. I do think the punishment is right on the money when you consider they had chances to stop the practice 3 years ago when the NFL started asking questions.