The entire Saints organization was unified in insisting that they had been wrongly disciplined for a fake injury, and Saints owner Gayle Benson went directly to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about the matter.
Benson got personally involved and sent a strongly worded letter to Goodell denying any wrongdoing by the organization, according to NoLa.com.
The NFL initially fined defensive end Cameron Jordan $50,000, defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen $50,000, head coach Dennis Allen $100,000 and the Saints franchise $350,000 after league officials believed Jordan pretended to be hurt to give the Saints’ defense time to regroup in a game against the Buccaneers. But all of those fines have since been rescinded on appeal.
Benson’s letter insisted that Jordan, the coaches and the team’s medical staff did nothing wrong. At an appeals hearing, Saints trainers and coaches also said Jordan had been genuinely injured, and as part of the appeals process the Saints and Jordan showed records that Jordan had visited the team facility for injury treatment every day the week after the Buccaneers game, even though the players were off for their bye week.
The NFL has a legitimate interest in cracking down on fake injuries, but in this case it appears that the league acted before conducting a thorough investigation, and Benson stood up for her team.