ESPN - Former Minnesota Vikings All-Pro receiver Cris Carter says he put "bounties" on opposing players as a form of protection during his 16-year NFL career.
Carter, currently an ESPN NFL analyst, said Tuesday night on "Hill and Schlereth" on ESPN Radio that he would offer money to teammates to take out players he thought were trying to take him out. "I'm guilty of (bounties) -- I mean, first time I've ever admitted it -- but I put a bounty on guys before," Carter told show hosts Mike Hill and Mark Schlereth. "I put bounties on guys. If a guy tries to take me out, a guy takes a cheap shot on me? I put a bounty on him right now!"
When asked whether the bounties carried financial incentive, Carter said: "Absolutely."
Carter clarified his comments Wednesday morning in an appearance on ESPN's "SportsCenter," emphasizing that there was no intent to injure an opponent -- as the NFL alleges was the case in the Saints' "pay for pain" system. Carter acknowledged that using the term "bounty" may have been a poor choice of words on his part.
"The difference is people going out of their way to hurt a player," Carter said Wednesday, "hitting a spot that we as players know is off limits, like his knees. You're not telling them to go out and get someone, you're telling them to protect you, run down the field to protect their skill guys." The 46-year-old spoke of former Pro Bowl linebacker Bill Romanowski, then with the Denver Broncos, threatening to hurt him in pregame warm-ups.
"Bill Romanowski -- he told me he was going to take me out before the game, warm-ups. No problem. (He said,) 'I'm gonna end your career, Carter.' No problem. "I put a little change on his head before the game. Protect myself. Protect my family. That's the league that I grew up in," Carter said.
Cut to Roger Goodell Shaking his Damn Head (or SMH'ing as weird internet people say).
This is about the last thing he needs right now. The admittance from a former player, a prominent player at that, that this was a much more common and casual practice than the league would like to admit.
The thing with the Saints is, it was a institutionalized system. That's easy to penalize, that's easy for the league to point to, come up with rules and punishments, and say they've erradicated it, that there's no place for it in football.
This is a lot more difficult. This is a player saying, game to game, play to play, players place bounties, or as Cris is now saying, buy protection, for themselves against opposing players by paying for big hits. Unless you're mic'ing up all 22 players on the field and have the sidelines completely wired for sound, you're not solving that problem.
And this is where the contrarian points out that the players already pay fines for violent or illegal hits...big whoop. James Harrison, who I'm pretty sure was the most fined player in football last year, was only fined a total of $125,000...Cole Hamels, punk move aside, only plunked a 19 year old with a baseball and was just suspended five games which amounts to roughly $460,000 in game checks...So, you tell me which league is serious about protecting its players?
Big hits, violent plays, it's all a part of football, and apparently, if you believe Cris Carter, paying your teammates for protection like it's La Cosa Nostra is too. You're not going to be able to police that unless you see some blatantly illegal hits, and even then the league has proven they just don't have the power to give those penalties any real bite.
